KEITH READY, Courier Contributor
Sunday, March 4, 2012 6:00 am

For close to two years now the fight against the building of a 52,000 square foot Islamic Center has been one of the hottest topics next door in Murfreesboro.

That fight spread to Woodbury last Tuesday when three influential leaders in the fight, Kingdom Ministries Worship Center pastor Darrel Whaley, Murfreesboro attorney Joe Brandon and Franklin attorney Tom Smith presented an informative meeting on Islam and the "Regional Islamic Training Center" in which around 60 people were in attendance at the Cannon County Senior Center.

46th District Representative Mark Pody led off the meeting by telling the audience that he encouraged people to listen to the speakers as they spoke about the potential dangers of Islam.

Pastor Whaley spoke next about what he believed to be  the three truths for America.

The first truth is knowing the intent of God for all of humanity. He pointed out there are no other Gods in any of the other religions that offered a Heaven when the end time comes.  

The second truth is to know the intent of God for America.  Citing the makeup of the constitution as proof, Pastor Whaley said that God intends for America to be a Christian nation.

The third truth, according to Whaley, is the understanding of intent and injury of Islam.

After discussing some points before turning the meeting over to Joe Brandon, an audience member asked Whaley about his opinions of the dangers of Buddhism, Catholicism and Mormonism. Whaley replied, "Well they're not going around blowing up folks..."

Joe Brandon, attorney for the plaintiffs in the case in Murfreesboro, spoke next. He asked the audience about Shariah Law and whether it can coexist with the United States Constitution?

Is Islam a religion? They pray to Allah.  It also has political aspects, Shariah Law and culture makes it a dualistic system, Brandon said.

Islam is composed of a trilogy, Brandson said. Three different books or writings or collection of books. One is the Quran. The Quran is what Mohammed said that Gabriel said that Allah said.

The Quran repeatedly says that all the world should imitate Mohammed in every way.  It came about 20 years after Mohammed's death, Brandon said.

Sira is the biography of Mohammed which was written 150 years after Mohammed. The Hadiths were written on the actions and sayings of Mohammed.

Brandon then touched on the subject of Mohammed at the age of 51 taking a little girl age 6 in marriage.

He started to read from one of the Hadiths citing the fact.

However, one of the audience members quickly asked Brandon to correct his statement saying that she was engaged to someone else 3 years before he married her. Brandon then cleared it up according to the audience member's statement that the 6 year old girl was already engaged to someone else when she was three.  

Further research shows that she was indeed 6 years old when she was married to Mohammed and it wasn't until the age of 9 before the marriage was consumated.

Brandon then stated one of the reasons why Shariah Law can't coexist with American Law is because it is against American law to have sexual relations with children. Other examples Brandon gave dealt with the treatment of women in the two cultures and the permission for the use of violence.

After educating the audience about some of the basics of Shariah Law and how it can't coexist with American Law, Franklin Attorney Tom Smith updated the audience about the upcoming ruling. After opponents filed a lawsuit trying to stop construction, Judge Robert E. Corlew III denied the request for the injunction.  However, opponents turned around and filed a lawsuit claiming that Rutherford County government did not give adequate public notice before approving the project.

If the ruling is that the government did not give adequate notice, then the whole approval process is null and void and the Rutherford County Commission will have to start over from square one.  Attorney Smith expects a decision on April 29.

The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public about what the three opponents referred to as the "Islamic Training Center" presence in Murfreesboro and that it might have an effect on it's neighboring counties including that in Cannon County.  If the ruling comes back to where the process to approve the Center has to start all over again, they suggested the Center might try to move to a neighboring county.