Chairman of Jama At-ul Islamiyya of Nigeria, Division seven, Professor Lai Olurode, has attributed the global portrayal of Islam as being equivalent to terrorism and violence, as a formidable obstacle to forging peace.

He said this in an address at the 4th Ramadan lecture of the association at Magodo, Lagos, yesterday.

According to him, those who rule the world have pronounced the religion guilty and its adherents, enemies of world's progress saying "this negative perception of a major religion is responsible for the violence and killings in the middle east and other part of the world.

"The world major problem today is not even poverty, but prejudice against the poor, social prejudice is in fact making it difficult to proffer solutions to the problem of poverty. We exclude others from access to housing, education and employment opportunities on the basis of their being different from us in terms of religion or ethnicity," he said.

He said the only way to avert global catastrophe that the religion warns against is to be more equitable in sharing global resources with concern for social justice, emphasising that "we cannot do any of these unless we are tolerant of the plurality of thoughts and cultures."

He urged muslims to spread the gospel of tolerance, saying "even with views that in appearance contradicts ours, though in substance, they do not challenge our core beliefs and values. This is the way to make the world a better place for both living and non-living things," he added.

The guest lecturer, Professor Tajudeen Gbadamosi, in his lecture "Islam in Contemporary Times," urged muslims to always be patient. According to him, Allah answers prayer of the oppressed, be it military, social or economical, as far as you have the fear of Allah.

Published November 10, 2004, allafrica.com

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411100046.html