Olbermann Blasts Media For Ground Zero Mosque Reporting

Keith Olbermann named the entire media his "worst person in the world" Monday for what he called a failure to report that there were two places where Muslims worshiped in the World Trade Center before the 9/11 attacks, even as they covered the controversy over the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.

On Saturday, New York Times religion columnist Samuel Freedman wrote about a Muslim prayer room that had existed on the 17th floor of the South Tower up until its destruction in 2001. Muslims working in the North Tower also used a stairwell to pray there, he reported.

"Given the vitriolic opposition now to the proposal to build a Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero," Freedman wrote, "one might say something else has been destroyed: the realization that Muslim people and the Muslim religion were part of the life of the World Trade Center."

On his show, Olbermann blasted the press for failing to find this out:

"Throughout this stupid, childish, xenophobic debate, there was nobody who mentioned this stunningly relevant fact until [Freedman] did it in the New York Times this past Saturday, September 11th," he said. "There were two Mosques in Ground Zero the moment it became Ground Zero."

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Comments

[CynAnne]

12:32 AM on 09/18/2010

Keith totally nails the hypocrisy, once again. And, once again, for those woefully-uninformed Cluster-Foxers, a timeline showing just exactly WHO started this ill-willed campaign of prejudice and ignorance, courtesy of Salon.coms Justin Elliott : http://www.salon.com/news/ground_zero_mosque/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/08/16/ground_zer­o_mosque_o­rigins ...who's surprised, in any way, to find the voices behind all the hate are located in the wingnutters media camps...?

[baibux]

03:14 PM on 09/17/2010

My guess is that this issue is one of those media "SQUIRREL" cases...

[scodavis1]

02:44 PM on 09/17/2010

I just got back yesterday from NY for my first visit since 9/11. I thought I needed to see Ground Zero so I took the subway.

People are worried about Muslims desecrating the site? You have to be kidding me. I was completely shocked that there is still a hole in the ground where buildings should have been rebuilt years ago. The only place to really view the site for the public is from the lobby of a building just south of the site.

Apparently, the powers that be in NY have been squabbling over money for the last nine years and just haven't gotten anything done.

Money. That's the sacrilege. Where is the outrage?

[IDIOTA]

06:46 PM on 09/16/2010

Yeah -- Muslims and Mexicans are the new Blacks.

I asked a Christian (Church of Christ) why he was against Islam, and he responded that he is against Islam because Islam is against Christianity -- does that approach a tautology?

Why is Gleen Bark like Adolph Hit Her? He uses death to incite the people and move them toward the oppression, dehumanization and elimination of "threats."

[txrunner]

11:59 AM on 09/16/2010

I'm hoping that the city would consider allowing a gay bar to open next to the Mosque.

Since there is a message of TOLERANCE for Americans to allow the Mosque - perhaps tolerance would be a great practice for the Mosque.

[EF3]

12:02 PM on 09/16/2010

A) It's not a mosque, it's a COMMUNITY CENTER. Would you call the YMCA a church?

B) Stop watching that Beck wannabe, Greg Gutfield. He's totally clueless, which is saying something.

[alw2030]

03:25 PM on 09/16/2010

EF3----Just stop looking at fox .

[HarmNone]

09:18 PM on 09/16/2010

https://secure.colorofchange.org/turnofffox/sticker/
This is a helpful site advocating we 'turn off fox'.

[MGhamma]

09:22 PM on 09/15/2010

Take that all you Islamophobes.

[LMPE]

08:46 PM on 09/15/2010

I had heard about this

[mheister]

07:34 PM on 09/15/2010

From yesterday's Twitter stream:

@michaelheister: @keitholbermann Calling a stairwell a mosque is a bit of a stretch. Yr point about Muslims also being victims of 9/11attacks is well-taken.

@KeithOlbermann: @MichaelHeister That's only the impromptu one near Windows On The World. The actual mosque was on the 17th Floor of WTC2

So I did my homework, and Keith's correct. In places where a dedicated structure does not exist, Muslims may use a space as a makeshift mosque. A mosque, or masjid, is simply a place where gathered believers prostrate themselves before God.

If you take prostration as well in the figurative sense of humbling yourself before God, expressing your love and your gratitude and asking for divine blessings, regardless of whether you physically fall to your knees and place your forehead on the floor (or your prayer rug), then by definition, any place of worship qualifies as a "mosque" or a "masjid".

Put another way, mosque and masjid are essentially the Arabic words for church, as Allah is essentially the Arabic word for God.

A church or a mosque may be the building dedicated to worship, or it may be the congregated believers engaging in the act of worship.

Hence, there were two mosques (and a number of churches, I would guess) in the WTC, one for each building.

[AlKhateeb]

05:57 PM on 09/16/2010

Mosque is an anglicized French cognate for the Arabic word masjid, "Masjid" is transliterated from Arabic and can be translated to mean, "a place where prostration ("sujood") is made. More correctly any place where "salat" (prayer) is made is called a "musallah". Only that building that is solely and purposefully set aside for salat and that same building has a place for wudoo (ablution is preparation for salat) is called a masjid. In this case the stairwell was a musallah and the place on the 17th floor more properly a masjid.

[mheister]

06:15 PM on 09/16/2010

Thank you for that. I shall defer to your expertise on the subject.

For dealing with western non-Muslims though, it's probably easier to follow Hyundai's example. The correct pronunciation of the company's name is hee-yoon'-die but they decided to pronounce it hun-day for Americans. In this case, I'd say rather than splitting hairs (as a Baha'i, I understand the importance of ablutions and prostration to obligatory prayer), I'd suggest letting Keith and the rest of us understand a mosque as the rough Muslim equivalent of a church.

[KDog76A]

03:58 PM on 09/15/2010

I hate to agree with Olbermann, but geesh, he's actually right

[CDRUSNret]

06:02 PM on 09/15/2010

Too bad hardly anyone saw it........................

[EF3]

11:51 AM on 09/16/2010

Because Fox News gets jammed down their throats.

[wee weed up]

03:51 PM on 09/15/2010

Ben Shapiro sez...
Build the Ground Zero Mosque on Michael Moore.


Koran sez...

Surah 9:5: "… fight and slay the pagans (infidels/unbelievers) wherever you find them."

9:29: "… kill Jews and Christians if they do not convert to Islam or refuse to pay Jizya tax."

5:33: "… maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam."

47:4: "… do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them."

[PWM]

04:34 PM on 09/15/2010

Quotes taken out of context:

5:33, "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement."
Verse 34 adds: "Except for those who repent before they fall into your power: in that case, know that Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."

9:5, "So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. "
verse 6 adds: "If one amongst the Pagans ask thee for asylum, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of Allah; and then escort him to where he can be secure. That is because they are men without knowledge."

The OT is even worse as no out is possible for those who are not Hebrews.

[AlKhateeb]

06:02 PM on 09/16/2010

More accurately Quran 9:29 is translated:"... Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which has been forbidden by God and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, [even if they are] of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

Sheikh Hânî al-Jubayr, judge at the Jeddah Supreme Court adds that the ayah (verse) above means:

If the non-Muslim country did not attack the Muslim one nor mobilize itself to prevent the practice and spread of Islam, nor transgress against mosques, nor work to oppress the Muslim people in their right to profess their faith and decry unbelief, then it is not for the Muslim country to attack that country. Jihâd of a military nature was only permitted to help Muslims defend their religion and remove oppression from the people.

The Persians and Romans did in fact aggress against Islam and attack the Muslims first.

The Chosroe of Persia had gone so far as to order his commander in Yemen specifically to kill the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Romans mobilized their forces to fight the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the Muslims confronted them in the Battles of Mu’tah and Tabûk during the Prophet’s lifetime.

May Allah guide us all. And May peace and blessing be upon our Prophet Muhammad."

[Countess]

12:11 PM on 09/15/2010

If the major news shows on the corporate media had explained this to people instead of pandering to the haters there could have been a chance to dial back the rage but instead as usual they chose to give credence to the moronic rage that has stolen center stage. They also could have pointed out that the leader of this community center was a Sufi Muslim and in no way related to the extremist movement in Islam but their philosophy appears to be why educate when you can agitate

[eddw88]

03:43 PM on 09/15/2010

Go away with all your common senese and truth!

People don't want the truth. They want what feeds their addition, FEAR.

We have been made addicted to fear for the past 10 years. Why stop now. The people want more.
The truth only dispeals fear ; and that doesn't make profits and the people are turned off by truth.

[alw2030]

03:29 PM on 09/16/2010

eddw88----Fear is what fox is pushing,and the koch brpthers are behind it.And all they do is make money and meddel in things that should not be in.

[poobah]

02:47 PM on 09/18/2010

Old Joe McCarthy would be proud of them for following his example.

[KDog76A]

04:01 PM on 09/15/2010

The Imam, is however, tied to the project's developer who is a law-breaking sheister.

That said there is no reason that the Freedom Tower, if it ever gets built might as well have a Mosque in it. There is no real reason it shouldn't.

[intragan]

06:02 PM on 09/15/2010

what should become of the current buildings tied to law-breaking sheisters?..i am sure this isnt the only one if TRUE

[scodavis1]

02:56 PM on 09/17/2010

After nine years the money-loving sheisters still haven't built anything on the site because they've been fighting over money.

Since Ground Zero is technically a mass grave, I would prefer to make it a memorial park, but we can't have that, can we? Way too much money to be made.

Seems to me that there is a lot of misplaced outrage out there.

As KDog says, if the Freedom Tower is EVER built, it probably will have a place for Muslims to pray since there will certainly be many of that faith working in the building.

[bryan broome]

10:23 AM on 09/15/2010

Why didn't KO investigate alittle deeper? I guess he's blasting himself as well.

[TheBaffler]

03:49 AM on 09/16/2010

He and some others actually had it right all along.

[1Troubles]

09:52 AM on 09/15/2010

The protesters believe in freedom of religion as long as it's their religion.

If it goes against what they believe, then lets change the constitution-I'm 68 and fear for my countries future with people like these

[Foxy Pachyderm]

10:22 AM on 09/15/2010

Just like Democrats believe in Free Speech as long as it's not Hate Speech, and anything Democrats don't like is Hate Speech.

PS- You misspelled "country's".

[Grimmsd]

01:53 PM on 09/15/2010

Just like Republicans believe in Free Speech as long as it's not Hate Speech, and anything Republicans don't like is Hate Speech.

Fixed that for ya.

Works just as well both ways, doesn't it?

[Billyguitar]

08:55 AM on 09/15/2010

Ko! You're the man!! The xenophobes and bigots don't want to know that there were muslims already there, "No! No! It can't be!" Sorry, but it be. The whole debate is silly anyway. We don't need to break the constitution over not-a-mosque that's not a ground zero.

[Foxy Pachyderm]

10:17 AM on 09/15/2010

No one ever denied that Muslims kill Muslims. It's a well-established fact that most of the victims of Islamic terrorism are other Muslims.

I for one support the First Amendment right to build a mosque near Ground Zero. I hope you support my First Amendment right to protest Islam on the sidewalk outside it when it's complete.

[Grimmsd]

01:57 PM on 09/15/2010

Where are you going to protest? As there is no mosque being built, you are not going to look too bright.

It's a community center. It's going to provide American construction workers jobs to build it. It will have to employ maintenance workers and security guards. Property taxes will be paid and local restaurants and coffee shops will receive more business.

And you are against this? Why do you hate America?

[eddw88]

03:52 PM on 09/15/2010

Strongly disagree with you. But, I support you!

BTW, we the American Christians killed over 300,000 people (mostly Muslims and a very conservative estimate at that, as some believe the number is as high as over a million total) in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

[plevine78]

08:44 AM on 09/15/2010

This low rated cyborg is proving the point of the protestors. If there are 100 or so mosques in NYC, and no one has said a word, the media created "islamophobia, racist BS" is a farce.

71% of NY'ers (a liberal town) just do not want a new one built in a spot that was hit with part of the plane on 9/11.

Good job Keith, you helped the protestors. Maybe that is why your ratings are a joke.

[Reggie Licious]

08:54 AM on 09/15/2010

Please post the source for the poll result you are quoting, and please provide the original questions asked, who was asked, and where (what time, etc.).

Never trust a so-called statistic just because it's "quoted" in the media. And never underestimate the media's potential to twist results to fit their agenda. And please also do not forget that most polls are done for a reason, which is to prove a specific point, not to provide an unbiased view of people's opinions. And questions are usually asked so as to provoke the answer that is wanted (if only because they make it impossible to answer differently).

And I'm not even going to start on whether or not "the poll" was representative or not.

[theseusofaustralia]

09:12 AM on 09/15/2010

whilst if the statistic is anti establishment then it must be true?

[intragan]

09:37 AM on 09/15/2010

dont take stock in the polls.it is meaningless...for example faux news poll results consistently rates responses from 1000 registered voters. Is this the pulse of America? of course not

[Guy Incognito]

12:48 PM on 09/15/2010

...and all the 'registered voters' are employees in the Faux News building...