.14k. jare Editor's Letter www.jarc.org Changing Islam's Face A mid the debate over plans to build an Islamic cul- tural center, health club and mosque 300 yards from Ground Zero, I was struck by the profound take of an actual moderate American Muslim. Few question the developers' legal right to build the 13-story center in lower Manhattan — provided funding is secured. But the desired location is polit- ically charged and divisive, even among Jews. Consider the range of viewpoints we've published relating to the Cordoba Initiative, the organization behind the proposed center known as Park51. Location — so near the World Trade Robert Sklar Center site of the Islamist-driven 9-11 Editor massacre — seems everything in this discussion that won't wither. "Let us remember that the project organizers themselves created this controversy by announcing that the groundbreak- ing would take place on the 10-year anniversary of the attack and that the exact site was selected because of its proxim- ity to Ground Zero," Abdur-Rahman Muhammad wrote in a gripping essay that appeared on Aug. 24 at paja- masmedia.com . He's a Washington-based senior writer for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and a graduate of Howard University in Washington. More than 20 years ago, the African American Muslim was the imam of a mosque where he taught radical Muslim ideology. He later renounced that hatred in favor of working to counter Islamist hatemongering in the American Muslim commu- nity. That's how the credit line on his essay reads. Compelling as his thoughts were, I needed assur- ance he was legitimate. So I asked someone whose Abdur-Rah opinion I value: Steve Emerson, executive director Muhammad of the Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism. "I vouch 100 percent for the writer of the piece Emerson told the IN. "He's a very courageous guy." Jigging iii In his essay, Muhammad rejected the notion that opposition to Park51 and several other mosques around the country is "evidence of bigotry and so-called Islamophobia." Sure, a strain of Islamophobia infects some Americans. But not every mosque churns out hate and not every Muslim is an Islamist. I've said repeatedly that the vast majority of American Muslims respect U.S. law and understand the return on contrib- uting to the American way of life. Still, as Muhammad noted, "there is a legitimate basis for fear of mosques — as it is a demonstrable fact that mosques and Muslims have been disproportionately connected to ter- rorism in this country and around the world." His most damning point was that "in the examples of opposi- tion to specific mosques chosen by the media as evidence of popular 'bigotry, the media have selectively ignored the openly available evidence showing unambiguously that these mosques or their officials are connected to, or supportive of, the radical Muslim Brotherhood (the parent of Al Qaida), Hamas and other radical Islamic fundamentalist organizations." At The Core With widespread opposition to the Park51 Community Center as well as some sincere support, including among Jews, the project — for me — comes back to the theory that the devel- opment will promote "interfaith dialogue" and "mutual under- standing." Muhammad mused that the project might not have been so bitterly opposed had its Muslim developers, especially the imam heading up the $100 million project, Faisal Abdul Rauf, been truly moderate. "But then again:' Muhammad wrote, "they probably would never have proposed such a thing in the first place." No one has tied Rauf, a Sufi Muslim who says he recognizes Israel's right to exist, to Al Qaida. But something seemingly simple to deduce — whether he has condemned Hamas, which is on the U.S. Department of State list of terrorist organizations — has become subject to interpretation. "He also called this country an 'accessory' to the 9-11 attacks and has written that America is shariah (Muslim law) compliant:' Muhammad wrote. "Forget all the rubbish about 'interfaith dialogue' and 'mutual understanding.' The ongoing battle over this site has already belied that charade." JTA quoted Rauf's wife, Daisy Khan, as explaining in an ABC News interview that the 2001 "accessory" comment referred to U.S. support for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban during the Cold War in the 1980s. Coming To Terms Rauf and his leadership team would be wiser and provide a more compassionate face of Islam were they to essentially say, "It is our right to build here. We have permission to build here. Now that all of America knows it our right to build here and that we have permission to build here, we choose to build elsewhere because we are sensitive to both the families of the 9-11 victims and the belief by many Americans that Islam is intolerant and uncompromising." Such a change of heart is unlikely. Rauf, 61, has too much at stake in political and religious power. "Moreover," wrote Muhammad, "the mosque will come to symbolize in the radical Muslim world the triumph of bin Laden's attack and provide a kind of heavenly validation for his approach to spreading radical ideology. For what other reason could the 10th anniversary have been chosen for the groundbreaking?" That deduction may be a stretch. But Muhammad was right to argue, "Non-Muslim Americans have yet to see any clean line of demarcation between radical and moderate Muslims. Everywhere around the globe, Muslims are the cause of so much bloodshed and turmoil — making life on this planet a living hell." The underlying problem, he stressed, is that Muslims in America "suffer a deserved trust deficit wherein they are seen as a foreign and dangerous element." Perhaps, he concluded, "if the $100 million being spent on this mosque were used to build, say, a hospital, this perception would begin to change." In Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, we have a radical-turned- moderate Muslim urging the civilized Muslim world to reassess how best to change the perception — beginning in America. His message resonates. LI 0 : tx • cn ta ca Z z 0 0 a. 0- Should the Islamic center be built near Ground Zero? Is Imam Rauf under too critical a microscope? all `104,461e Richard Kaplan lives at JARC's Berlin Home in Bloomfield Hills The High Holy Days are a time of personal reflection and meditation. For Richard Kaplan, it is a time to join with his many friends at The Shul to recite prayers, atone for past sins and grant forgiveness to others. He finds strength and a sense of belonging by taking part in these meaningful traditions. Whether as a volunteer or donor, your generous support will benefit the men, women and children JARC serves. Help JARC continue .. . 5arricrc. tea SIDE roily 30T " ANNUAL FUNDRAISER r CD I . r--.` c FISHER THEATRE Tickes- 44140 online www.jarc.org September 9 2010 5