People packed Granite City Baptist Church on Friday night to listen to a controversial preacher who calls Islam a dangerous cult. Meanwhile, a group of 100 or so protesters gathered in the rain to denounce his views.
Usama Dakdok has been visiting Central Minnesota cities in the past week. He is the founder of the Florida-based Straight Way of Grace Ministry, and he is a Christian who grew up in Egypt.
Dakdok talked into the night about how, even though he’s portrayed as hateful by liberals and a complicit media, he doesn’t hate Muslims. It’s Islam, he said, that’s the true hateful force.
“I want to get rid of Islam, not the Muslims,” he said. “Jesus died on the cross for Muhammad as much as he died for Paul and John and you and I.”
Dakdok said Islam is a religion that engages in war with people unless they believe in Allah. He also spent a considerable amount of time talking about how Christians worldwide are being killed by Muslims, and that the religion is bent on world domination.
“And the American people, you, for example in the state of Minnesota, are doing everything you can to bring as many Muslims as you can bring” here, he said.
Dakdok slammed the media that he says incorrectly presents him as Islamophobic, calling journalists useful idiots.
“Muslims are using them to destroy you, and you the American people still buy the newspaper. Shame on you,” he said.
Almost every seat at the church was filled, and overflow seating was brought in to accommodate the crowd for Dakdok.
A profane message vandalizing the church was discovered Friday morning. The profanity has been mostly scrubbed away by Friday night’s event.
#UniteCloud helped organize the protest outside the church. People held signs with messages such as “I Stand With My Muslim Neighbors” and listened to speakers share why it was important that they come out to take a stand.
“We’re coming out in the name of peace and community and conversation,” said #UniteCloud’s Natalie Ringsmuth. “As you can see there are so many people that are here tonight. It’s raining, it’s pretty miserable out, but we are not miserable in this group of people. We’re smiling. We’re laughing. We’re talking. We’re really are showing this is who our community is.”
Ringsmuth said she attended one of Dakdok’s events earlier this week in Little Falls and talked with him personally for more than an hour.
“I shared with him he is not representing my religion correctly — I’m a Christian — and what he’s saying about my Muslim friends is not correct,” she said.
Ayan Omar, an educator at Technical High School, said as a Somali woman and a Muslim, it was important for her to be at Friday night’s protest.
“America is made out of different religions, different colors, different backgrounds,” said Omar, who has lived in St. Cloud since 2005. “I want my daughter to be accepted into wherever community she attends.”
Omar said she was heartened to see the number of protesters who came out.
“This is America, this right here is what America’s made of, every single individual who’s here to promote love and peace and acceptance,” she said.
Not everyone who disagreed with Dakdok wanted to protest. A group of Somali community members released a statement late Thursday saying the best way to deal with him was not to respond in that manner.
Still, the statement sharply criticized his message. “Although we understand this individual’s right to free speech, we strongly disagree with his attempt to cause disharmony and to sow division in our community,” the statement read.
The statement also noted that someone set fire to a Muslim-owned business in Grand Forks, where Dakdok has spoken.
“We understand that this individual does not speak for Christians and Jews or other peoples of faith because faith by its very nature inspires love, trust, sharing, caring and uplifting human beings,” it said.
The statement was signed by Abdullahi Kulane, executive director of Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Community, Ahmed Ali Said, executive director of the Somali American Relations Council, and Farhan Mohamud, community outreach director for the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization.
Jama Alimad, an elder member of the St. Cloud Somali community who met with others who didn’t want to protest, said Dakdok didn’t deserve any response and that his speech is protected under the Constitution.
“We don’t care about whatever he says, we don’t care,” he said. “This is our town. This is our place. This is our community.”