A North Mississippi Tea Party Association is planning to protest an Islamic center in Southaven, claiming the sect of Islam is too radical for the community.

Don Daniels, the founder of the Tea Party of Mississippi Association, is planning the protest against the Muhammad Study Group.

“These people need to be watched,” said Daniels, saying the purpose of the protest is to raise awareness about this Islamic group.

“When they cross the line into extremism, when they cross the line into radical, I believe the public has the right to know that,” he said.

According to Yasin Muhammad, Islamic Center in Southaven is a place of reading and learning. It uses the center, he said, to promote peace, progress and the advancement of humanity.

The group is associated with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, which captured Daniels’ attention. He believes the group is more extreme than mainstream Islam.

“These people are radicals,” said Daniels. “They’re radical in their belief, they’re radical in their actions, and they will not hesitate to use violence.”

But Muhammad said the group has assembled peacefully in the Southaven for two years without incident, working to bring attention to ignorance, poverty, and injustice.

Daniels believes something more is going on.

“It is their theology of their extremeness that they want to have total domination and that they want to have a supremacy of black Muslims,” he said.

Muhammad says Daniels and the Tea Party, not his group, are the ones stirring up hatred in the community.

The protest is scheduled for April 23rd at 10am at the Islamic Center. The Muhammad Study Group has a meeting at the same time.

Source: Your Southaven-Horn Lake