Controversial Park51 Ignites Fury Around Nation

By Elizabeth Dovell

The truth is, many Muslims have been praying at Park51, a building formerly leased to Burlington Coat Factory, for many months before the media picked up on the story. The Islamic cultural center, conceived by a Sufi Imam named Faisal Abdul Rauf, has been promoting itself as a center of “tolerance and understanding,” with Imam Faisal working “very hard, day in and day out, to fight extremism and radicalism” (http://park51.org.s105994.gridserver.com/faq.htm).

Phyllis Freberge, a local resident, says that Muslims have “an absolute right to have a place of worship in New York City.” While she understands worshippers have a history at the location, “they should be conscious of the emotional aspects of the situation.”

Many blame the blogosphere for stirring the pot and creating the problem- a problem that perhaps would not exist as it does today had it not been so prominently splashed across front pages nationwide. Bobby Ghosh reported on the heated topic in the August 30 issue of Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2011798,00.html). Ghosh calls into question the role that the media has played in the situation. Bloggers are able to safety hide behind their digital anonymity, posting what is often uninformed, incorrect information (Park51 is now largely referred to as “the 9/11 mosque,” an inaccurate title). The media frenzy has made it difficult to get the hard facts.

24 year-old Greg Casarona claims that “everyone has a right to freedom of religion. But the way that this country is at the moment…it’s just not a good idea. I think that having someone very high profile in the Muslim world come out and say [the project] is not a good idea would be beneficial.”

Many well-known Muslims have indeed expressed their discontent at the project. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid of the Al-Arabiya network has publicly stated his objection in an August 16 article in the international Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat: “I cannot imagine that Muslims want a mosque on this particular site, because it will be turned into an arena for promoters of hatred, and a symbol of those who committed the crime” (http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=21980).

“To discriminate against [Muslims] because of such a liberal center is a real detriment to the war on terror, and actions like that will further isolate us from the Muslim world,” says David C, a native New Yorker. Despite the seemingly increasing anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States, polled Muslims have said they feel safer and freer in this country than in others such as France or Switzerland. These countries, in which Muslims are also a minority, have recently passed legislation banning burqas and minarets (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2011798,00.html).

The center does appear to promote its liberal and peaceful views. Park51 founder Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf is a follower of Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism that has had a hand in shaping Judeo-Christian values- values by which many Americans conduct their lives today (http://www.equip.org/articles/sufis-the-mystical-muslims). Interestingly, Sufis themselves are considered heretics in the eyes of the more extremist followers of Islam- individuals such as Osama bin Laden and members of al-Qaeda. The scorn of al- Qaeda against the American people is also felt, though in a different capacity, by the very founder of Park51.

A September 2 article in The New York Times showed that many supporters of the Park51 project feel that the site should be “relocated to a less controversial location” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/nyregion/03poll.html?_r=1&hp). Over half of the people polled for the article admitted to anger and distrust towards Muslims due to the September 11 attacks.

Park51 is not a mosque…but would it truly matter if it were one? To a significant number of Americans, the answer is a resounding “yes.”