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September 3, 2010

Letter: Listen to Imam's words on ground zero mosque

As the controversy over building a mega-mosque near the ground zero site heats up, it is important to hear the words of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. After a radio interview in 2006 when the Imam was assured he was no longer on air, he talked further about his plans. If you want to hear his words, you can Google “You Tube: Imam Rauf exposed: off mic.”

While he was on the air, he spoke of a book written by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright where he wrote a blurb for the back cover. He said during that interview that he is in continual contact with her and Karen Hughes, who worked with President Bush.

Imam Rauf explained that his Cordoba policy has several branches. In the foreign policy area, he said the Palestinian conflict is being influenced by urging the U.S. to credit Hamas with positive changes in the area.

Speaking candidly about the Palestine issue, Imam Rauf said that it is important to assign definite borders to Palestine and Israel to give Islam legal standing in the area. One way of doing that has been to influence members of the Israeli Knesset to support the border issue. He stated that it is important for the U.S. to engage with Hamas to set these demographic boundaries to help bring calm. He added that Islam has never been hindered by geographic borders in its spread.

He also said that communication is high on his list of branches. Spreading Islam depends on the media to help shape and change perceptions about Islam. The Imam said they must have enough power to stop any push-back against the aims of Islam.

The Imam first likened his plan to playing chess but he thought an analogy to football would be better understood by the American public. He explained that in his Cordoba plan he is the head coach, and world leaders like presidents and prime ministers are merely players sent in to attain certain goals. He said that Islamic planning is like putting the offense, defense and special teams on the field all at the same time. That way his team would be powerful enough to stop any attack the opponents might plan.

Whether Muslims have a constitutional right to build a mosque near the site of ground zero has never been in question. The question is why there is such intransigence about choosing that particular site.

Ina Fay Manly

Dalton

 

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