Right: the former Burlington Coat factory, damaged by pieces of the airliners which hit the World Trade Centre, is to become a Muslim community and prayer centre.'
Arguments in favour of a Muslim community and prayercentre being built near the site of the World Trade Centre
1. The reaction of opponents is exaggerated and ill-informed
Defenders of the building of a Muslim community centre near the site of the Twin Towers claim that opponents of the construction have got key facts wrong.
Firstly, the centre is being presented as a mosque when in fact it will be a thirteen-storey community centre including meeting rooms and a swimming pool. It will also include a mosque, but that it not its sole purpose and the exterior design of the building does not indicate that it includes a mosque.
Daisy Khan, one of the co-proposers of the centre has expressed concern that critics of the Islamic cultural centre have misunderstood its creators' intent. Daisy Khan has stated that the centre will not function primarily as a mosque; New York City is already home to more than 200 mosques. Rather, modelled on the success of religiously based establishments like YMCAs and Jewish Community Centres, the Islamic centre is intended to serve the larger community as an institution for learning, collaboration and sharing knowledge across faiths and cultures.
Secondly, supporters of the Muslim centre have stressed that it is not being built at the site of the World Trade Centre, but two blocks away. They further claim that given the height of buildings in the surrounding cityscape the Muslim centre would have no visual impact on the memorial which is planned at the World Trade Centre site.
Howard Wolfson, the deputy mayor of New York, has stated, 'New York is a very unusual place in its density ... I do not think the average person knows that you would not be able to see Ground Zero from this building, nor would you be able to see this building from Ground Zero.'
Thirdly, it has also been noted that far from being promoted by extremist Muslims, the centre has been proposed by moderate Muslims. Bobby Ghosh, writing in an opinion piece published in Time Magazine on August 3, 2010, wrote, 'Park51's main movers, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan, are actually the kind of Muslim leaders right-wing commentators fantasize about: modernists and moderates who openly condemn the death cult of al-Qaeda and its adherents.'
Daisy Khan has stated of she and her husband, 'We are frequently sent by the State Department to go tour around various Muslim countries to speak about the merits of America and its constitution, and how Muslims live in America. And when people see that record they dismiss what the opponents are saying.'
2. The Muslim community centre and mosque are intended as a sign of peace and religious harmony
Supporters of the Muslim community centre claim that one of the key aims of the project is to promote peace and harmony between the broader American community and Muslim Americans. The centre is also intended to educate Americans about the true nature of Islam.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, one of the co-proposers of the Muslim community centre, has stated, 'This centre will be a place for all faiths to come together as partners, as stakeholders in mutual respect. It will bring honor to the city of New York, to American Muslims across the country and to Americans all over the world. The world will be watching what we do here. And I offer you my pledge -- we will live up to our ideals.'
Imam Rauf has further stated, 'Inspiring the initiative and our projects are the two commandments, the two most important commandments at the heart of the Jewish, the Christian and the Muslim faiths: to love the lord our God with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of all souls and with all of our strength. And the second, as Jesus said, co-equal to the first, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.'
In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on September 7, 2010, Imam Rauf has argued, 'Our broader mission - to strengthen relations between the Western and Muslim worlds and to help counter radical ideology - lies not in skirting the margins of issues that have polarized relations within the Muslim world and between non-Muslims and Muslims. It lies in confronting them as a joint multifaith, multinational effort.'
Imam Rauf concluded, 'The very word "islam" comes from a word cognate to shalom, which means peace in Hebrew. The Koran declares in its 36th chapter, regarded by the Prophet Muhammad as the heart of the Koran, in a verse deemed the heart of this chapter, "Peace is a word spoken from a merciful Lord."
How better to commemorate 9/11 than to urge our fellow Muslims, fellow Christians and fellow Jews to follow the fundamental common impulse of our great faith traditions?'
3. The United States constitution protects the freedom of religion of all Americans
Those who support the building of a Muslim community centre near the site of the World Trade Centre cite the first amendment to the United States Constitution as guaranteeing the rights of Muslim Americans to build a place of worship.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is also the first section of the Bill of Rights. It guarantees freedoms of religion, speech, writing and publishing, peaceful assembly, and the freedom to raise grievances with the Government. It reads:
'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.'
President Obama has stated, 'Our Founders understood that the best way to honor the place of faith in the lives of our people was to protect their freedom to practice religion. In the Virginia Act of Establishing Religion Freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion." The First Amendment of our Constitution established the freedom of religion as the law of the land. And that right has been upheld ever since.'
In relation to the building of a mosque near the site of the World Trade Centre, President Obama stated, 'As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.'
Not only does the United States constitution protect the religious freedoms of its citizens, but the constitution of the state of New York also guarantees those rights. The state constitution states, 'The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this state to all humankind; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his or her opinions on matters of religious belief.'
American private property rights also guarantee that so long as the Muslim community is the legal owner of the property on which it builds then it should be able to construct any building of its choice so long as that building is not in violation of local bylaws or other state or federal legislation.
4. The issue is being exploited by political conservatives
It has been suggested that opposition to the Muslim community centre being built near the site of the World Trade Centre has been fomented and exploited by conservative groups in the United States for their political advantage.
Ibrahim Hooper of the Council of American-Islamic Relations has stated, 'This is a controversy that was manufactured by the cottage industry of anti-Muslim bigots out there who will seek any issue to marginalise American Muslims and demonise Islam. What they're trying to do is exploit the natural emotions generated by the 9/11 terror attack.'
A number of Republicans, including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich have been accused of trying to gain political advantage out of the World Trade Centre mosque issue. In an editorial published in The Nation on August 17, 2010, it was stated, 'There is no shortage of people looking to gain political capital from New York's Ground Zero Islam debate... The uproar over the proposed Muslim/interfaith community centre near "Ground Zero" in New York has rekindled the debate over Islam in post-9/11 America. And this time, a number of political bigwigs have jumped on the bandwagon to make their voices heard, generating political capital along the way.'
The editorial went on to claim, 'While Palin appealed to "the anguish of the families and friends of those who were killed on September 11, 2001", Gingrich called the proposed centre "an assertion of Islamist triumphalism" and added that supporters of the project were "apologists for radical Islamist hypocrisy"... For men and women running for public office, political exploitation is nothing new.'
Ali Mohammed, a New York food stallholder, stated in regard to Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich's comments, 'They got nothing to do with New York and they don't care about New York. They are trying to create propaganda.'
Jerrold Nadle has similarly stated, 'It's disgusting. It is an attempt to exploit for purely political motives a sensitive issue. And to exploit people they obviously don't really care about.'
5. To prevent the Muslim community centre and mosque being built would marginalise American Muslims.
It has been claimed that to deny American Muslims the rights enjoyed by all other Americans would be inequitable and would stigmatise and marginalise this group.
The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, has stated, 'If we say that a mosque and community centre should not be built near the perimeter of the World Trade Centre site ... we would send a signal around the world that Muslim Americans may be equal in the eyes of the law, but separate in the eyes of their countrymen. And we would hand a valuable propaganda tool to terrorist recruiters, who spread the fallacy that America is at war with Islam.'
Mayor Bloomberg went on to say, 'It was not so long ago that Jews and Catholics had to overcome stereotypes and build bridges to those who viewed them with suspicion and less than fully American.'
In a speech given on August 13, 2010, President Obama declared, 'We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and every culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.'
The president went on to promote a vision of America that offers an equal place to all its citizens, 'Today, our nation is strengthened by millions of Muslim Americans. They excel in every walk of life. Muslim American communities -- including mosques in all 50 states -- also serve their neighbors. Muslim Americans protect our communities as police officers and firefighters and first responders... And Muslim Americans serve with honor in our military.'
The president concluded, 'The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.'