An international controversy involving the Quran is unfolding in Gainesville and may explode Saturday, Sept. 11 right as the University of South Florida Bulls travel to the small city to take on the University of Florida Gators.
Even before Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville’s Dove World Outreach Center threatened to have a bon fire of Muslim holy books, safety concerns were already being raised for the game where rowdy students from USF would invade Gainesville for a rare match up and chance against Florida’s No. 1 football school.
Add concerns from global leaders about the activity sparking terrorism, a Worldwide travel alert to all Americans issued by the U.S. State Department and the likelihood of counter-protest demonstrations, it’s easy to see why many at UF may be uneasy about this weekend.
The University of Florida has announced its working closely with local, state and federal officials to monitor the situation. They’re asking fans to be vigilant, and promptly report any suspicious packages.
Uncertainty is a major element in this mix — especially with New York City’s proposed Islamic Center that’s become known as the Ground Zero Mosque now embroiled in the controversy. The pastor has gone back and forth on whether he’ll move forward with plans to burn the Quran in Gainesville Saturday, based largely on the future of that mosque.
Early this week, Jones made it seem there was no stopping the even his church scheduled for 9/11. Then, when Orlando Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, went to Gainesville to meet with Jones Thursday, the two religious leaders emerged for a press conference where Jones announced he would cancel the Quran burning because a deal to move the proposed mosque near Ground Zero had been reached.
When the New York iman, Feisal Abdul Rauf, said there was no such deal, Jones told media he was lied to because the Orlando imam assured him three times a deal was reached. At that point, Jones changed the Quran burning’s status from cancelled to suspended, while he travels to New York City with the Orlando imam to meet with the New York imam to try and negotiate a peaceful resolution.
Meanwhile, students from USF, UF and residents of Gainesville are waiting and watching to see what happens next, as violence over the controversy is blamed for at least one death abroad. The Orlando iman told Jones his planned burning would be used as a recruitment tool for terrorists in mosques across Muslim countries as the Holy month of Ramadan concludes over the next few days.
Protests against Jones have turned violent, and even deadly abroad. A Muslim protester was shot and killed and many others were wounded at a NATO base in Afghanistan when 10,000 protested together on Friday, according to the New York Daily News.
President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, General David Petraeus and other world leaders have all come out publicly urging Jones to cancel the burning, but the firestorm of controversy may now be too late to stop before the holy books get burned.
A church leader in Springfield, Tennessee, Rev. Bob Old, told media he planned to burn the Koran Saturday and had no plans to back down.
“I will be burning a Koran, I’m not going to change my mind no matter who calls me,” Old told the Tennessean paper.
The controversial Westboro Baptist Church has reportedly come out and declared its membership would burn the Quran if Jones cancels his.
The New York Daily News reported the church issued this news release to Ocala.com:
“WBC burned the Koran once – and if you sissy brats of Doomed America bully Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center until they change their plans to burn that blasphemous tripe called the Koran, then WBC will burn it (again), to clearly show you some things,” the release read.
A Wyoming paper is reporting a man plans to burn a Quran on the state capital steps on Saturday, Sept. 11. If there’s a rule against burning, he promised to rip the Holy book up at the capital and then burn it at a private residence later that day.
In Afghanistan, American flags and an effigy of Pastor Jones have already been torched in the streets.
KnightNews.com will continue following this developing story.
