'Allah Is Satan, Jesus Is God' Debate at Mississippi Church Proves Unproductive
Christian and Muslim leaders reportedly held a debate on Allah and Jesus at a Gulfport church in Mississippi, though the two-and-a-half hour event got too heated to continue.
Sun Herald reported that the debate took place on Saturday at Cowan Road Baptist Church, where representatives from the two religions came together to argue over a controversial sign posted by the Rev. Chris Ashley, the church's pastor, in November, which read "Allah is Satan; Jesus is God."
Members of the Muslim community in Gulport were said to be offended by the sign, which eventually led to Saturday's event.
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While Ashley defended his sign with Usama Dakdok, an Egyptian-born-Muslim-turned-Christian-evangelist, Yahya Shabazz of the Quittman Islamic Center and two other Muslim activists, Dawud Salaam and Abdul Jamal, took to defend the Islamic faith.
The debate looked at various verses in the Quran, with Dakdok citing one example which he said proved that "Allah is the proud, therefore Allah is Satan."
Shabazz warned, however, that "if we continue down that road, nothing will be accomplished."
"You will leave here just like you came here, probably disliking someone even more. That's not the purpose of religion; the purpose of religion is to unite," the Quittman Islamic Center representative added.
Sun Herald noted that little was achieved by the two-and-a-half hour event, however, describing it as marked with "recriminations and inflammatory language."
Ashley continued his arguments on Facebook, and posted on the Cowan Road Baptist Church page that "Muslims believe Allah will be merciful to them based on his evaluation of their performance."
"But salvation is never sure; it is never a promise. When the Western world looks with horror on things like jihad and acts of Islamic terrorism, they get a glimpse of the powerful fear that Allah instills in his many of his followers," he added.
"Faithful Muslims are faced with a terrible choice: obey the violent commands of an omnipotent deity whose mercy is given only to the most passionate and devoted followers (and perhaps not even then), or give themselves up as hopelessly lost and headed for punishment."
Other American pastors have accused Islam of being a religion inspired by Satan, including First Baptist Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress.
"Islam is a false religion, and it is inspired by Satan himself," Jeffress said following the terror attacks on Paris in November, where 130 people were killed.
Saba Ahmed, president and founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition, said back then that terrorist actions do not represent Islam in any way, however.
"ISIS should go back to the basic teachings of Islam. They are misusing the teachings of Islam to carry out horrifying atrocities. That's completely un-Islamic, and they have hijacked our religion. The Muslim community strongly condemns [the attacks]," Ahmed said.
