I actually think it is slightly unwise to build at that location. But one of the core values that are *really* dear to me, is the absence of a right not to be offended in our society.

Some people, argue that actions which offend someone, somewhere, should generally be outlawed and punished. For example, that burning holy books, ought to be a crime – on the basis that some people are offended by it. Or that building certain kinds of buildings in certain locations, ought to be stopped – on the same basis.

It doesn’t offend me personally to build, nor does it offend me personally to burn holy books, flags or other objects of political or religious significance.

But even if I was personally offended, I’d still never agree to use law, threats of violence or any other measure beyond dialogue, to try to prevent the offense.

Thank u for doing that, I wish I could’ve been there also… I doubt anyone would hug me though

Nice post Mona. I’ve had the same urge – about telling people I’m Muslim – though, unlike you, I’m not in the US right now. Your episode with the two ladies and the gentleman reflect my own experience with Americans. For the most part they are rational individuals who just haven’t met other Muslims. Can anyone blame them for stereotyping us like we do them in Muslim-majority countries? It’s easier for the brain to process black and white and it takes more effort to process more nuanced colors and issues. The folks I worry about are the ones who intentionally spread misinformation to scare the hibby-gibbies out of people, Americans or otherwise, and cause a clash of civilizations and religions.

Glad to hear about Musawah. We have a lot of work to do as Muslims to work within our societies for equality and justice. How can we stand by and let the Taliban and others prevent girls from getting an education, women from working, ordinary people from enjoying a breath of fresh air. How can we call ourselves Muslims and let that injustice rule?

One person at a time. It may be slow, but you will make a difference.

I think the problem is that Muslims, in general, and Mona, to a lesser extent, do not break out the different schools of Islam. It is the American Muslims loss not to do so.

Just as many Christians helped Eric Rudolph survive after his terrorist acts in Atlanta, saying they didn’t agree with his acts, but “they could understand” them, far too many Muslims shield the Wahabi sect and refuse to condemn them. In fact, we have at least one fellow holding a American professor’s position, Sh Yasir Qadhi, who, like others of his ilk claim that Wahabi is a myth and that the Muslims in Saudi Arabia are just “good Muslims”, maybe a little over-enthused, but nothing to worry about. He is not alone. An old saying is that nothing matches the fervor of a convert and I think that is true.

Some claim that 80% of the North American mosques are controlled by Wahabi. I have no idea of knowing that this is true. I certainly can’t ask since if they are controlled that way, they certainly wouldn’t tell a Westerner. I can only apply a few tests: Was the convert educated by Saudis or Saudi educated converts? And does the convert acknowledge the existence of Wahhabi? That last question, I apply to all Muslims to get a feel of their direction.

I came upon this blog after I read some comments by Mona in NY1. In it, she complains about Americans discriminating against Muslims in general.

Do not expect that to change much unless Muslims begin to identify who those are among them that wish Americans harm. Until that happens, Americans will blame ALL Muslims. Most Americans are sophisticated enough to understand the splintering of religions. It is why a Pentecostal christian ignores the Roman Catholic Pope’s edicts.

But we won’t understand people that shield others that want to return us to a culture of 400 years ago.

Sorry, Mona, but that’s a foolish and insulting location to build a mosque. What’s the symbolism behind that? You can say there isn’t any, but that’d be a lie. Or you can say the symbolism is peaceful coexistence but the fact is that many if not most Americans will view it as a provocation and a slap in the face. Call me a bigot if you like but there’s no reason in the world to build a mosque on the memorial site for a heinous attack that was committed specifically in the name of Islam. Those men were waging jihad, Mona. It wasn’t just a random act of mass murder.

Salam sister
The name reminds me of Imam Tahawy (May Allaah’s Mercy be upon Him who died in 323 After Hijrah).I am a non-Arab(Ajami) Muslim, so I had doubts. Am I right?

According to a Sixty Minutes segment I saw recently, Muslims have been using the Park 51 site as a musallah for ten years. This new project is an expansion of that usage to include all kinds of activities, non just Islamic prayer.

I could understand the objection, if this project were proposed for the exact piece of earth over which the towers once stood, but I could see the objection for any sort of development on that ground.

This project merely continues a tradition that has marked American society since its inception. Remember the term “melting pot”? This term has given way to “diversity,” but the concept arises out of the fact that America is home to people whose parents and grandparents brought cultural and religious traditions that varied from and sometimes clashed with each other.

Building Park51 seems like quite an American thing to do, and Mona, don’t discount the influence of the one-at-a-time approach. You will never know the extent to which your contribution to another person’s enlightenment will weave its way into society.

@Hi
Assalaamu ‘Alaikum waRahmatu(A)llaahi waBarakaatuh
“Glad to hear about Musawah. We have a lot of work to do as Muslims to work within our societies for equality and justice. How can we stand by and let the Taliban and others prevent girls from getting an education, women from working, ordinary people from enjoying a breath of fresh air. How can we call ourselves Muslims and let that injustice rule?”

Musawah lie or dajl would not lead upward to the stature of Maryam ,Peace be upon Her and Faatimah May Allaah be pleased with Her (Leader of the women in Jannah) but otherwise to the dark abyss of sins, I fear. I hope you can feel the love in the warnings. I love my sisters and want to see them in Jannah.
Taliban(literally Seekers of Divine Knowledge) are the most Allaah-loving and Allaah-fearing men on this planet. They don’t want their sisters,daughters and mothers to be seduced to Hell by Haraam co-education or Hayaa-robbing education along with Yahood and Nasaaraa by indulging in sins denounced by Torah and Gospel as well, the distorted forms of the scriptures which shaped the secular education now threatening Islamic religion. But Islam has its own unique dynamic of spiritual resistance and Taliban are its natural product. They are precisely doing Nahi ‘Anil Munkar(Forbidding The Evil) Using Hand glorified by Apostle of Allaah, Peace be upon Him, as the Strongest State of Faith Himself. It’s an act of love not understood. Yvonne Ridley is a testimony to the fact. No Muslim can object to Halaal and Hayaa-promoting education for Muslim sisters.
You may not like what I say, but truth is a surgery that hurts but cures. If I do sins, I don’t try to rationalize them. I admit them deep inside my heart. Doing sins doesn’t spiritually damage Muslims more than rationalizing sins as lawful or halaal.

Only Allaah-fearing men can stop zulm from happening anywhere in the world, not otherwise.

@Vey
“Some claim that 80% of the North American mosques are controlled by Wahabi. I have no idea of knowing that this is true. I certainly can’t ask since if they are controlled that way, they certainly wouldn’t tell a Westerner. I can only apply a few tests: Was the convert educated by Saudis or Saudi educated converts? And does the convert acknowledge the existence of Wahhabi? That last question, I apply to all Muslims to get a feel of their direction.”
Imaam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab was an individual who has directly or indirectly emotionally affected all Muslim scholars and students of Islamic Religious Knowledge. Throughout Islamic history, individuals have appeared at regular intervals who would reinvigorate Islam by reiterating what was pristine Islam practiced by Early Muslims. So, any non-Muslim can’t do anything to reduce the emotional appeal of Imaam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab. Islam is an ocean of spirituality in which tides appear from time to time. There are many more tides hidden in the ocean of Islam. Wahhabi label per se is a misnomer because there is no Muslim who can theoretically disagree with him except upon some very juridical issues of little significance to non-Muslims. Most Muslims you would encounter may offer you apologia, but I would suggest you to consider the theological or philosophical challenges which Early Islam which is unanimously considered a spiritual benchmark by all Muslims, poses to your individual convictions. The spiritual chaos of Western “civilization”, if a society can qualify to be civilized inspite of sexual depravity, is precisely what causes it to collide head-on with Islamic civilization, which InshaAllaah is the spiritual and intellectual civilization of the future- a dead-cert for the next centuries, or even decades to come.

“But we won’t understand people that shield others that want to return us to a culture of 400 years ago.”

In fact, it was a culture more Christian than contemporary Christianity. So, since when Christian morality became antithetical to America and Western civilization in general?

In fact, it was a culture more Christian than contemporary Christianity.

Untruth. The Prophet could not have been more unlike Jesus if he’d been making a conscious effort. I have no idea how you could possibly think that Jesus would have approved of what is written in the Quran. I doubt I could find more than a verse or two in the Quran that is compatible with the teachings of Jesus, and I seriously wonder how any muslim can have read the New Testament and make such claims. And if you haven’t read the New testament then what do you base your opinion on? Stuff you heard in a mosque?

So, since when Christian morality became antithetical to America and Western civilization in general?

Sorry, but I won’t debate morality with somebody who just resoundingly endorsed the Taliban. No offense intended, but the Taliban are about as bad as human beings can possibly be and anyone who claims they are doing God’s work is playing for the other team.

@craig
“I have no idea how you could possibly think that Jesus would have approved of what is written in the Quran”
It is a non-evidentialist fideistic position based upon the judgement of heart.
Trinitarian idolaters, that is, Paul and Nicean Council would definitely have disagreed, despite the grave warnings in Tawraat(Pristine Torah) as well as Injeel(Pristine Gospel) about strict adherence to unitarianism and monotheism and the consequences otherwise,,while unitarian Arius would have approved relatively more, as well as antinomian heretics who distorted the religion of Maseeh ‘alaihis salaam(Messiah Peace be upon Him)-the fruit of secular Chrsitendom of today obviously indicates that the tree doesn’t belong to Maseeh ‘alaihis salaam. Muslims are not only thinking but acting upon their faith in God and Jesus while preparing for the Rule of Maseeh ‘alaihis salaam in accord with Law of Qur’aan-ul-Hakeem.The following would be instructive for you.
jesuswillreturn.com
“I doubt I could find more than a verse or two in the Quran that is compatible with the teachings of Jesus, and I seriously wonder how any muslim can have read the New Testament and make such claims. ”
How can you trust mutually discordant accounts written by sometimes anonymous authors as not apocryphal but authentic teachings of Maseeh ‘alaihis salaam?The case with Qur’aan-ul-Hakeem is different and is even acknowledged by Western scholars ruling out the possibility of partiality.”We may upon the strongest presumption affirm that every verse in the Quran is the genuine and unaltered composition of Muhammad himself.[Allaah Himself rather as per unanimous Muslim belief. Word of Rasool sall Allaahu 'alaihi wasallam is distinct and is known as Hadeeth]” is one of those statements by a Western scholar.

No Muslim questions the Divine origin of the religion of Maseeh ‘alaihis salaam.But the Christian view of Islam is not shaped by the concern for the authenticity of Islamic Sacred Texts, but by the perception of Islam as a Satanic imposture-Christian theories and hypotheses about which are not only implausible but are so diverse that they lack unanimity.What I can suggest to any devout Christian is that the only panacea of the spiritual chaos(This is how Hilaire Belloc- a Catholic described the spiritual state of his fellow faithful) non-Muslim humanity in general and Judaeo-Christian humanity in particular is Islam.
The following would be instructive about Qur’aan-ul-Hakeem.
theinimitablequran.com

“No offense intended, but the Taliban are about as bad as human beings can possibly be and anyone who claims they are doing God’s work is playing for the other team.”
I won’t debate with someone belonging to secular Christendom to appreciate the nature of Allaah’s work. What all Muslims know about them is that they cannot be tempted into any worldly seduction(Allaah’s Aid to them is predicated upon their extent of spiritual incorruptibility) unlike pseudo-religious Crusaders and colonialists.The failure of bribing them to change their singular unanimous allegiance is a case in point. The question would recurrently revert to whether Islam is a Satanic imposture, considering the fact that Islam is the only spiritual fortress in the world which is persistently resisting the Satanic ideology of secularism which originated in historical Christendom.My mom was exempted from HIV tests while visiting States two decades ago citing her religion. All Muslims are indebted to Islam, that HIV didn’t originate among Muslims.

Muhammad Elijah, no offense intended but that’s a semantic bunch of blah blah blah that I have no interest in trying to parse through. Somebody would have to be insane to understand the teachings of Jesus and to understand the teachings of Mohamed and believe they were at all similar. They are in fact nearly polar opposites. The only way I can think of to explain how so many Muslims seem to think that Islam is some sort of adaptation and continuation of the teachings of Christ is that they don’t understand what Jesus’ message was, at all.