Nigeria: Rioting resumes in city of Jos after Christians protest construction of a mosque

Salam,

So here we go, actively discouraging the locals to pray.

This probably means that the local muslims have to travel a distance to get out of the christian enclave and get to mosque on time every Yom al-Juma.

At their jobs, the manager probably gets pissed off losing so much time and productivity from some of their best employees every friday (al-Juma).

Manager: "Why do you boys take so much time off on al-Juma.

Employee: "We have to go and pray to a mosque that is far away....We have to catch the 11am bus to get to Mosque for 12.30pm". Then after prayers we have to gete the bus back to work and be here at 3pm. We then work late to make up for the lost time".

Manager: "That's gracious, but I need you in some meetings at the time, can you not take your car?"

Employee: "Yes that is definately quicker to get there, bute last time there was nowhere to park. In a hurry I parked outside the mosque ...and was wheelclamped. It must have been a christian traffic warden...because all the muslim wardens were at prayer".

Manager: (frustrated....) Ummmm!, this is very difficult, you are a very good worker and I don't want to lose you....why don't you build a mosque close by to get round the problem. And I'll see if we can get the company to make a donation towards the build to kick things off".

So there you have it....that's probably how the building of the mosque started, Everyone was happy...except the christians. You people are all so moody, and this could have been a win-win situation.

I think the best way forward is for the local christian community to make a donation towards the build and keep your youth away.

....at least this situation would not have happened in the West.

The solution is simple. Don't pray on company time.

I have no use for someone that feels it's okay to interrupt a production schedule to meet their own private, frequently-recurring religious obligations.

Pray on your own time like the Christians, Jews, Hindus and Pagans do, or pray silently while you are performing your job duties properly. Surely if your pig-god is so merciful and forgiving, he will gladly accept such prayers from you!

Many more Christians have died in "sectarian violence" in Nigeria over the last decade than Palestinians in the I/P conflict over the same period. But you'd never know it, of course, because unlike the Palestinians, Christians around the world don't have the mainstream media to champion their cause.

It is so typical of Muslims to cry wolf when the shoe is on the other foot. Many Christian companies and schools provide private places of prayer and allow their Muslim employees and students to pray at companies' and school premises but none of Muslim companies or schools in the Muslim world would allow their Christian employees to do the same, heck they even give Christians a very hard time when applications to build churches are submitted. Also, you Muslims can bend and raise your behinds to the sky in prayer any where you are, you do not need to be in the mosque to pray. I am not saying you should not go to mosques to pray, but I think God would accept people's prayers wherever they are especially if circumstances don't allow them to be in the house of prayer on specific days, unless your god demands of you to be in the mosque for your prayer to be heard and accepted.

I lived in the Muslim world for the longest time of my life and experienced first hand the hard times of worship, walking or driving long distances to get to a church, and missing many Sunday services because the teacher assigned a test on that special Sunday. So do not cry to us because those crocodile tears don't deceive us. When was the last time you, Yom yourself, gave a Christin a break, or the benefit of the doubt over any misunderstanding? When was the last time any Mulsim country, such as Egypt for example, gave the Chritians the permit to build a church in a predominante Muslim city?

Some good news for our side.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23796587-delight-as-super-mosque-plans-are-scuppered.do

I say it once again, all of this Post 9-11 focus on ISLAM is the beginning of a long drawn out end for the "Religion of Piece(s)" - body parts that is. People are learning more & more each day about the ISLAM and they don't like it. I look forward to the day when Muslims start to get the same generous treatment they dish out to the kafir in Muslim majority countries. An eye for an eye. If you think the whining of discrimination & unjustice is loud now (when they alraedy outnumber the Jews 100 to 1), just wait until China, Russia, US and majority Hindu India are breathing down their necks. I can feel it coming.

I will be very interested to see more detailed reports about this rioting. This Al Jazeera article says it "reportedly erupted after Christian youths protested against the building of a mosque" but it cites no sources and is inconsistent with all the other reports I can find.

UPI says "Local residents gave conflicting accounts on what precipitated the killings. Some reportedly said it began when a man whose home was destroyed in November disturbances tried to rebuild it without getting the permission of local youths while other said it began with a free-for-all during a disputed soccer game." "the rioting came three weeks after a panel ... began investigating the November 2008 Jos North riots"
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/01/18/At-least-17-killed-in-Nigeria-rioting/UPI-52221263820879/

Canada Press says
"Angry Muslim youths set a church filled with worshippers ablaze in northern Nigeria, ... The rioting began Sunday, when the youths attacked a church, said Gregory Yenlong, a state government spokesman" and refers to the home rebuilding issue.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jHgiYgTefHbXotsyVZ0BWLMCcyRg

ThisDayOnline, based in Lagos, Nigeria, http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=164460 says
"The latest bout of violence occurred following a misunderstanding between two neighbours, one Mr. Garba, a Muslim and the other a Christian who both had their houses burnt during the November 2008 crisis. THISDAY learnt that they decided to re-build their homes when Garba allegedly encroached on the plot of his Christian neighbour, a development that resulted into a hot argument and then a fight. The entire quarters re-grouped along religious lines and began a riot that spread to other parts of the city."

It's clear that an attack, burning an occupied church, was a key part of the start of the "rioting".

I happen to live in Jos and I can tell you that things here are not going well. We have a Christian and Muslim population here but some 'people' cant stand the idea of other religions around and so...chaos erupts. i can categorically tell you for a fact that a church was attacked and people slaughtered...the bodies are in the hospital. Yes, there are Muslim corpses in the central mosque and all...but there are Christian corpses in JUTH and Plateau hospital too. Its just that we don't scream it out and show the bodies and count them...we are too busy grieveing to use our dead as political propaganda.

I spoke to a friend who WITH HER VERY OWN EYES witnessed Muslim youth trying to leap over the fence of a church compound adjoining her compound to set it ablaze! She saw them. But for the intervention of soldiers who knows what would have happened?

People, open your eyes! This is the same stock from which Umar Mutallab was bred!!! The very same! The same thing happened in 2008...they even claimed that their 'people' were killed while praying in the mosque (something that was disproved by forensic evidence: the bodies were brought in already dead and there was no blood spatter around).

I am a Christian and have several Muslim friends...but I respect them and their right to choose. It is between GOD and the person so why should people feel that they can kill me and mine because I am a 'kafir' or 'infidel'?

Okay, even if there was a dispute between a Muslim man trying to rebuild his home and Christian youth, didn't he live to tell the tale? The man involved, the Muslim man, is hale and hearty and alive...while innocent people who went to worship at St. Michael's Catholic Church are not. So now, a protest by Christians automatically leads to attacks and killings in church? What is the logic behind that?

Thank you for bringing this up. I do not get much information about Nigeria and I am attempting to keep a close eye on it because of the Muslim-Christian confrontations. I believe that Nigeria is a good indication of the issues that are at the core of the global terrorist threat.