In addition to humanitarian relief activities in regions suffering from chronic poverty, war and natural disaster, IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation also provides support to institutions and individuals conducting Islamic activities. To this end, the foundation invited to Turkey former priest Musa Bangura, who later became Muslim, in order to get to know him closer.
Bangura, who has over the past nine years helped 4402 people, including 500 priests, convert to Islam thanks to his efforts to promulgate Islam in Sierra Leone, one of the four poorest countries in the world, arrived in Turkey upon invitation from IHH.
Muslims make up around 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s 5.5m population, Christians 30 percent and Animists constitute the rest. Compared to the Christian community Muslims have worse living conditions and face widespread missionary propaganda as in other African countries. That is why Bangura decided to promulgate Islam after becoming a Muslim. He says as a priest he was trained particularly to convert Muslims to Christianity.
A former Evangelist priest named Moses, Bangura converted to Islam following a dream he had in 1993 and has been working for the cause of Islam since then. He experienced many material and non-material hardships after his conversion. His property was seized, he and his family were shunned from the community and he even received death threats. The Muslim community offered protection to Bangura, who had to live in hiding for six months.
Bangura asserts that converting people to Christianity is not the only goal missionary organizations pursue in Sierra Leone and adds that the primary objective of all missionary activities in Africa is to wipe out Islam.
Christian missionaries are able to easily influence impoverished people using their financial resources, Bangura noted, adding that poverty has such devastating impact on the Muslim youth that it has the potential to misguide them and they were fighting against it.
Bangura provides material and spiritual support as well as religious education to people who have chosen Islam like himself under the umbrella of WHY ISLAM organization he set up. He attaches great significance to promulgation and information efforts and to this end he debates Christian scholars (on issues such as the trinity, baptism, etc.) on radio and televisions programs as well as at events that bring together Christian and Muslim communities, delivers talks and sermons.
