I tried to stay quite and hoped that if I closed my eyes long enough, this whole "Ground-Zero Mosque" controversy would blow over. It hasn't. In fact, all the fuss and controversy over this "mosque" has risen to such ridiculous and offensive levels that I can no longer endure this breed of Islamaphobia gone wild.
First of all, everyone, especially the media and journalists who repeat the description, must stop calling and referring to this building as the "Ground Zero Mosque." There is no Ground Zero Mosque! As Keith Olbermann very eloquently and passionately articulated on his show the other night, a mosque is "a place built for the purpose of gathering for prayer and worship in Islam," whereas the building that is going to be built near (not on) Ground Zero is an Islamic Community Center called, "Park 51," no longer to be called "Cordoba House" for fear of triggering even more misunderstood controversy.
This Community Center plans to house a culinary school, an auditorium, a swimming pool, a basketball court, and yes, space for prayer. But it is not a mosque, so we all need to stop calling it that. Calling this Center the "Ground Zero Mosque" not only makes people think up dramatic images of an actual mosque right on the site of Ground Zero, but it also misconstrues the entire debate.
With an emotional and racially charged debate such as this, it is critical we keep our facts straight and that starts with the words we choose. It starts with our language. Anyone that begins their debate or discussion by calling this Islamic Community Center a mosque must immediately be discredited because they do not know what they are talking about.
Aside from having had enough of Glen Beck declaring a "war with Islam," and Tea Partying protesters holding up signs that say ludicrous things like, "You can build a mosque on Ground Zero when we can build a synagogue in Mecca," or "Building a mosque on Ground Zero is like building a Nazi memorial next to a Holocaust Museum," my tipping point came when I read this article from The Daily Beast entitled, "Ground Zero Mosque Hurts Islam."
In this article, or work of fiction I should say, complete with a media gallery of the "America's Top 30 Most Muslim Cities" to ensure you remain scared to death of Muslims, the author Douglas Murray describes himself as "pretty much color blind and religion blind." But his entire article is about how Muslims are whiny, double-standard, hypocritical and violent people who want what they want where and when they want it, even if it means "destroying the landscape of Switzerland," or "stepping on people's emotional wounds" by demanding this mosque on Ground Zero. He even goes so far as to chide Muslims (cause we're all one and the same!) as children who do not know "how to behave."
As if all this was not offensive enough, Murray goes on to state:
"Islam itself is screwed. For all leading Islamic scholars the whole world belongs to Islam. Non-Muslims don't have a say in it."
I don't know what Murray is smoking, but after reading the first line of that quote I had had enough. The level of racist and ignorant banter this Islamic Center debate has stirred up has reached such intolerable levels that a blog as respected as The Daily Beast would run a piece as factually incorrect as this, (though they did make up for it in my opinion by running this brilliant post).
While it is great that Keith Olbermann, Mayor Bloomberg (whose speech should be mandatory reading for all), and President Obama himself (kind of?!) all voice support for the Islamic Community Center, and gave passionate accounts on the right, the pure, basic, simple right for this Center to be built, us Muslims need to speak up.
We need to speak up and do an excellent job of differentiating ourselves from the people who flew those planes into those towers.
Although we are the majority in our religion and we know Islam is not about violence, moderate Muslims need to speak up because we have been muddled and lumped together with the terrorists for long enough. We are the ones that pay the price by getting stuck in airport security and extra screening lines, get denied visas, and become marginalized in our societies.
It could not be more clear that around the world we are viewed as the same as those terrorists who kill and plunder in the name of our faith while we remain silent.
We need to stipulate that those men who brought down the Twin Towers were not Muslims. People who park their cars packed with explosives and abandon them in Times Square in the name of Islam are not Muslim. They are terrorists and they terrorize Muslims just as much as anyone else. They are not us and we are not them. And there is no better time for moderate Muslims to reclaim their faith from the terrorists than now, during Ramadan.
And while we go around stipulating and articulating this point, we must make sure that we start calling the Park 51 Community Center what it is: Not a mosque but an Islamic Community Center.
Follow Anushay Hossain on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AnushaysPoint
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The other way the First Amendment works
It doesn't matter what the location is, how many other mosques are around, or if it is a community center or a mosque. What matters right now...at this moment...is whether or not they are going to adopt a compassionate approach to the issue, or continue to call everyone who simply wants the community center/mosque moved, a racist, a bigot, Un-American, unpatriotic, etc.
The people of New York are not making threats of violence, they are not telling them they can't build it, they are simply asking for them to please move it to another location to avoid confrontation and possible safety issues from BOTH sides (crazy people aren't relegated to a single religion) as well as to respect those who died there in the name of Islam (regardless of the fact that they were not "true" Muslims who committed the atrocity).
So in what sense were they not Muslims? Anushay Hossain (and so many others who say the same thing) is essentially saying that they were not Muslims because they did something she considers un-Islamic, but which they consider quintessentially Islamic. Before they committed these acts, they considered themselves Muslim, and everyone around them did as well.
And so another question for Anushay Hossain: at what point did these men become non-Muslim? Was it at the point that they committed their mass murder, or attempted mass murder, in the name of Islam? If so, was there any reliable way to distinguish them from peaceful Muslims before they committed their acts? What steps is your mosque taking to make sure that other Muslims don't suddenly become non-Muslim in this way, under the mistaken belief that they're performing quintessentially Muslim acts?
If no such steps are being taken, and if there is no way to tell whether a Muslim is actually a non-Muslim before he commits an act of violence in the name of Islam, would not law enforcement authorities be entirely justified to subject mosques and Islamic centers to special scrutiny?
Am I too flawed in my faith to refrain from judging the character of the characters writing herein? Am I of intellect too meager to understand the rationality, coherency, & consistency of their talk?
I need an anchor in reality to compare; me & my confusion vs. them & their certainty. Had I that accurate coordinate, I'd call for the keepers to come gather their wards strayed from the home or for bars of soap to wash the lies from the mouths of deceivers fomenting divisiveness or for teachers of American Civics & Bible Studies to remedially review the Principles of the Constitution & the Bill of Rights & the teachings of the Christ & the "Word" from the "Book".
I am short in area(s) of learning, a flawed follower of any faith. I admit (in front of Man & any of his God(s)), I cannot sense veracity, constancy, rationality, common-sense, nor fair-play in most folks' opinions so freely shared herein! I am so flawed myself that I describe their behavior as that of semi-illiterate, partially-dishonest, self-blinded, closeted-bigots afraid of "the other" & too lazy to learn!
Read Carefully Folks,as I am not calling any names at all!
In my flawed-ness I attempt to objectively report on behavior of the writers as inferreed from the bitter flavor of their generalizations & emotional stink of
So in what sense were they not Muslims? Anushay Hossain (and so many others who say the same thing) is essentially saying that they were not Muslims because they did something she considers un-Islamic, but which they consider quintessentially Islamic. Before they committed these acts, they considered themselves Muslim, and everyone around them did as well.
And so another question for Anushay Hossain: at what point did these men become non-Muslim? Was it at the point that they committed their mass murder, or attempted mass murder, in the name of Islam? If so, was there any reliable way to distinguish them from peaceful Muslims before they committed their acts? What steps is your mosque taking to make sure that other Muslims don't suddenly become non-Muslim in this way, under the mistaken belief that they're performing quintessentially Muslim acts?
If no such steps are being taken, and if there is no way to tell whether a Muslim is actually a non-Muslim before he commits an act of violence in the name of Islam, would not law enforcement authorities be entirely justified to subject mosques and Islamic centers to special scrutiny?
And for the record, Mosques ARE Community Centers. So it's a Mosque. It's called a Community center to deter conflict, which obviously failed.
Mosque - Other functions
Mosques are not meant solely for the purpose of prayer. Mosques are also community centers, places where Muslims are able to gather for social activities. (Source:http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Mosque_-_Functions/id/1750636)
All of our news sources are biased. Partisanship has created a world were you need to read news sources from both the left and the right to gain a full understanding of what's going on. Never trust your news source. There is no nuetral news source. God bless.
and yes its a mosque, a mosque/community center is still a mosque room its a still a mosque. do research before posting stuff thats not true because both defending points were proven wrong. so why fight just move it. there already over 100 mosques in new york why can you just move this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park51
Cordoba House
Within that larger vision, Cordoba House will be a center for multifaith dialogue and engagement within Park51's broader range of programs and activities.
Park51 is planned to include the following facilities:
•a mosque, intended to be run separately from Park51 but open to and accessible to all members, visitors and our New York community
This next bit is from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park51)
That morning, the terrorists hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 as part of their attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers. They crashed the plane into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m, triggering the destruction of the tower hours later. The plane penetrated through the tower, and part of the plane's landing gear and fuselage came out the north side of the tower and crashed through the roof of 45–47 Park Place, and through two of its floors. The plane parts destroyed three floor beams, and severely compromised the building's internal structure.
Until its 2009 purchase, however, the building lay abandoned.
(So while not at GROUND ZERO the building was part of the attack. So maybe People have a teeny tiny itty bitty reason to be a little peturbed by the idea of putting up a Mosque on Ground Zero.
No, I do not object to the building of a Muslim Community Center OR a mosque it is WHERE the organizers want to build it that is the problem.
By that standard, an airport with a chapel is a church. A hospital with a chapel? A church? The fact is, the World Trade Center had nine chapels serving six different faiths.
And one of them was a Muslim prayer room.
That's right. The World Trade Center had a Muslim prayer room, in building 2.
A mosque invokes the image of elaborate domes, minarets, and the broadcasting of calls to prayer. This community center will not have them. The interfaith chapel? How many mosques have that? Exactly none.
Muslims pray daily, and have for years, in a Pentagon chapel a mere 80 feet from the 9/11 crash site. They have an Imam deliver a sermon every Friday. The Pentagon? A mosque?
Abraham Scott's wife, Janice, was killed at the Pentagon on Sept. 11. He opposes the Manhattan "mosque", but says he "can live with" Muslims praying at a Pentagon chapel.
"It's not a mosque that's built specifically for Muslims. It's a facility where Muslims can go and pray."
A Islamic community center, open to the public, with facilities including an interfaith chapel and available to all? It is not a mosque.
It's a building with a room where Muslims can go and pray. Just like they did inside building 2 of the World Trade Center.
Imam Rauf is spreading false rumors about Park 51 all over the Middle East:
Imam Abdul Rauf, who also speaks Arabic fluently, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Islamic centre will be financed through contributions from Muslims in the US, as well as by donations from Arab and Islamic countries. He also acknowledged that the location of the mosque, which will be able to hold over 2,000 worshippers, is the subject of much controversy and criticism from families of 9/11 victims.
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=20990
2. It's not even at Ground Zero !
3. There is already an Islamic Community Center 4 blocks away, this would be 2 blocks away from one corner of the giant hole. + There's over 100 Mosques already in NYC.
4. This is closer to an Islamic YMCA/Chef school than anything, with a swimming pool, basketball court, auditorium, culinary center and yes a prayer room.
5. There is already a strip club and a sex toy shop 2 blocks from the "sacred" ground zero. Plus liquor stores and a peep show ...
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/16/2010-08-16_a_sea_of_filth_near_ground_zer0_mosque_gets_all_the_press_but_porns_around_corne.html#ixzz0wpmc8VYR
6. There are Christian churches in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, cities nuked by Christians.
7. Timothy McVeigh was raised as a Christian ... why not ban all Churches in Oklahoma City then?
8. Even Tehran, Iran allows for Synagogues to be built, and in fact has 4 of them!
9. WTC # 2 actually had a Muslim prayer room in it, and Muslims died on 9/11 in the towers as well
10. The Pentagon (also attacked on 9/11) has had in Mosque within its walls since 9/11 - for Muslims who work in the Pentagon ...
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/05/muslims_infiltrate_pentagon
An airport can house a chapel. Is it a church? A hospital can house a chapel. Is it a church? The fact is, the World Trade Center had nine chapels serving six different faiths. One of them was a Muslim prayer room.
An Islamic community center, open to the public, with facilities including an interfaith chapel and available to all? It is not a mosque.
It's a building with a room where Muslims can go and pray. Just like they did inside building 2 of the World Trade Center.
As a matter of fact, the O'haras Irish Pub is even closer to Ground Zero than the Islamic Cultural Center. St. Peter's Church and St. Joseph's Chapel are nearby. Since some Irish Catholics are terrorists, aren't they all?
The Observer, Sunday 22 August 2010
"Irish republican dissident groups are targeting the Conservative party conference this autumn, raising fears of a repeat of the 1984 Brighton attack that nearly killed the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher."
"Over the past 18 months, a series of incidents have alerted security forces to a growing threat from republican splinter groups. A week ago three girls were injured in Lurgan, Co Armagh, when a bomb placed in a rubbish bin exploded. A police spokesman said: "Given the increase in terrorist activity in Northern Ireland, it's important to remind people that the threat from dissident republicans exists and should not be discounted."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/22/irish-terror-threat-conservative-conference