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Tolerance may be a treasured western ideal but it is the height of chutzpah to build a 13-storey mosque and Muslim community centre two blocks from where almost 3,000 people were murdered by Islamic terrorists.

By all means, build more mosques. If a modern, enlightened interpretation of Islam is to grow and flourish, nurtured by educated clerics unafraid of critical inquiry, North America is undoubtedly where change will occur.

But why erect Cordoba House in the shadow of the destroyed Twin Towers? Of all the places to build, why there?

I tend to agree with commentator Daniel Pipes, who says the initiative “carries the unmistakable odour of Islamic triumphalism.”

Muslims have historically asserted the supremacy of Islam through architecture, building on the top of monuments of other faiths, Pipes has written.

The al-Aqsa mosque (and later the Dome of the Rock) were built where the Jewish temples once stood after Muslims occupied ancient Israel, for instance. In the 16th century, the Babri Masjid mosque was built in India on a site considered sacred by Hindus.


More recently, the Taliban destroyed two giant statues of Buddha in 2001, to the horror of the worldwide community.

So you can understand why some of the fiercest critics of the location of the planned Ground Zero mosque are calling the initiative jihad by stealth.

The idea that Cordoba House is some kind of beachhead for a Shariah-inspired takeover of America is absurd, of course, and that kind of fear mongering simply feeds the flames of the Islamic radicals and their insane dream of a clash of civilizations. Nevertheless, constructing a mosque that close to Ground Zero is insensitive and unnecessary.

The larger worry, though, is the internal Muslim clash — the ongoing and often violent disagreement over how to interpret the Qur’an and live as a Muslim in the 21st century. And, as with any faith that has split into divisive sects over the centuries, it’s primarily about power and control. Muslims will have to figure out their future by themselves, hopefully sooner rather than later.

As Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes in her new book Nomad: “The Muslim mind needs to be opened. Above all, the uncritical Muslim attitude toward the Qur’an urgently needs to change, for it is a direct threat to world peace.”

The fact that Hirsi Ali has faced death threats and must travel with a security team because she has denounced militant Islam and the misogyny of tribal practices is a chilling indication of the dire need for a Muslim reformation.

This is where Cordoba House could play a crucial role.

Trying to stop its construction would be a political nightmare. The Cordoba House website describes the project as “a home for all people who are yearning for understanding and healing, peace, collaboration, and interdependence.”

So if the 13-storey edifice is going to be built, make it an interfaith centre and invite members of any religion to book a multi-purpose room for prayer or interfaith sessions. Install a 9/11 memorial.

Fill the library with books about all faiths. Make a point of reaching out to Jews and Ahmaddiyya Muslims — two groups that have been particularly scorned by rabidly intolerant Muslims.

And be scrupulously transparent about the source of the $100 million in funding. The oh-so-tolerant Saudis? Wonder what kind of Islam they’re demanding in return.

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A reply from Newt Gingrich on the mosque

Aug 21st 2010, 20:17 by Lexington

MY RECENT column on the mosque in New York criticised Newt Gingrich's "mean spirit and mangled logic". Here in full and without further comment (for the time being) from me is a response from the former House speaker's spokesman.



Dear Editor,

Lexington’s recent criticism of Newt Gingrich’s opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque (“Build That Mosque”, August 5th) reveals Lexington’s dangerous naiveté about the nature of the threats posed to Western civilization by radical Islamism even as it illustrates the more commonplace shortcoming of grossly misrepresenting Mr. Gingrich’s actual views.

Lexington essentially argues that as long as you aren’t an Al-Qaeda terrorist, then it’s unseemly for any American to question the motives of any Muslim group who want to build a mosque at or near ground zero. Gingrich disagrees. Like Lexington, Gingrich recognizes the difference between moderate Muslims and radical Islamists and that the guilt of the 9/11 terrorists does not fall on all Muslims. But unlike Lexington, Gingrich also recognizes that the radical Islamism that drove the 9/11 attacks is more than simply a religious belief. It is a comprehensive political movement that seeks to impose sharia—Islamic law—upon all aspects of global society. Moreover, while some radical Islamists use terrorism as a tactic to impose sharia, Gingrich and many Americans are well aware – even if the Economist’s columnist charged with reporting on American society has not yet figured this out -- that other radical Islamists also use non-violent methods to wage a cultural, economic, political, and legal jihad that seeks the same totalitarian goal of sharia supremacy even while claiming to repudiate violence.

There are around 2,000 mosques in the United States and more than a 100 in the New York area. But Ground Zero is not like any other place in America to build a mosque. It is a battlefield where radical Islamists who trade in terror murdered almost 3,000 Americans in an act of war. For obvious reasons, Americans don’t want to take any chances that radical Islamists who trade in political propaganda could come to dominate the historical interpretation of what happened there and why.

Lexington calls Imam Faisal Abd ar-Rauf, the ground zero mosque leader, a “well-meaning” cleric. Apparently, the British Economist magazine thinks you qualify as “well-meaning” if you believe that “United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened [on 9/11]”, which is what Rauf said in a [2001] interview on CBS 60 Minutes. Americans don’t find anything well-meaning about that statement.

On why he choose Ground Zero to build “Cordoba House” Rauf told CBN last May that "by being in this location we get the attention and are able to leverage the voice of the vast majority of Muslims who condemn terrorism.” But given the opportunity to do just that in a subsequent interview, he demurred. Asked if he thought Hamas, responsible for murdering civilians, is a terrorist organization could only say “I try to avoid the issues. The issue of terrorism is a very complex question.”

Rauf clearly seek the Ground Zero location for a propaganda platform but it is also clear that it will not be for the purpose of condemning terrorism.

There is much more in Imam Rauf’s background to make Americans believe that Imam Rauf wants to build a GZM as an arrogant political act of Islamist triumphalism rather than as a genuine effort at building inter-faith understanding. If the latter were indeed Rauf’s goal, then why doesn’t Rauf propose building an inter-faith community center at ground zero with a church, synagogue, and a mosque, governed by a board of Christians, Jews, and Muslims?


If Rauf is so intent on “improving Muslim-West relations”, then why doesn’t he lead an effort to build the first church and synagogue in the heart of the Muslim world in Saudi Arabia?

Which do Economist readers really believe will improve Muslim-West relations more: one more mosque in America -- but this time at Ground Zero -- or the first church in Saudi Arabia? Short of that, Rauf’s pleas for religious liberty in the United States (a freedom Saudi Arabia and other Muslim counrties forbid) is rank hypocrisy. Western editorial and political elites may remain blissfully blind to Rauf’s hypocrisy at the expense of 9/11 victims and their families, but most Americans recognize the hypocrisy and are insulted, which is why in a recent CNN poll, 68% of Americans oppose the construction of Rauf’s GZM.

Best regards,
Rick Tyler
Spokesman for Speaker Newt Gingrich

Completely agree on religious' freedom, and no one is prosecuting the mosque's leadership or asking them not to build their religious building, the only thing that is being ask of them is to have RESPECT FOR THE DEAD. They claim to be a religion of peace and understanding and if that were the case, they would show that to the American people and the world, by agreeing to move the mosque a bit further, not out of fear but out of respect. But clearly that's not the case. I guess it's like the saying goes, "Show me your actions, and I'll tell exactly who you are"

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"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" - Mahatma Gandhi

Dear CDs

do not mix religion with politics. This is purely a political issue.....

Also, whenever a muslim does a crime all people raise their fingers against Islam. we need to understand that there are black sheeps in all the communities.

Islam teaches peace & humanity. one has to go, read books & understand the islamic fundamentals before commenting on the religion

Yes MCG, i totally agree what is shown in the video is completely wrong & unacceptable. having said that, there are several such kind of incidents happening around in our India as well. this is nothing but ignorance

Thats why i said " don't see a muslim to judge Islam". read books & decide. This is not for u only but also for all the muslims

The Arabic word 'Islam' simply means 'submission', and derives from a word meaning 'peace'. In a religious context it means complete submission to the will of God.

The Prophet Mohammed said:

'God has no mercy on one who has no mercy for others.'

'Powerful is not he who knocks the other down, indeed powerful is he who controls himself in a fit of anger. '

'God does not judge according to your bodies and appearances but He scans your hearts and looks into your deeds.'

'None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.'

'He who eats his fill while his neighbor goes without food is not a believer. '

Quote:

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Originally posted by sohel131

Dear CDs

do not mix religion with politics. This is purely a political issue.....

Also, whenever a muslim does a crime all people raise their fingers against Islam. we need to understand that there are black sheeps in all the communities.

Islam teaches peace & humanity. one has to go, read books & understand the islamic fundamentals before commenting on the religion

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Dimple2001

Double post