18/05/2010
New York: An ambitious plan to build a mosque right next to New York’s Ground Zero is prompting hope — and anger — in a city that has been scarred by terrorism.
There's little to see now at the site, an abandoned clothing store two blocks from the former World Trade Center where nearly 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001.
But Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York imam and a leader of the project, says the planned multi-storey Islamic center will transform both the drab lower Manhattan street and the way Americans have looked on Muslims since 9/11.
Boasting a mosque with sports facilities, a theater and possibly day care, the center would be open to all visitors to demonstrate that Muslims are part of their community, not some separate element.
"There's nothing like this that we know of in the United States," Rauf said. "This will be a community center for everyone, not just for Muslims, but non-Muslims."
The Islamic center is part of Rauf's program, called the Cordoba Initiative, meant to build bridges between the West and the Muslim world.
But because of the proposed mosque's location, just around the corner from the gaping Ground Zero hole, Rauf's call for peace is seen by some as a battle cry.
"The outrage continues," says website www.nomosquesatgroundzero.wordpress.com under a close-up of the collapsing Twin Towers.
Accusing the Cordoba Initiative of trying to "sneak it through," the protest site says the center will "cast a rude shadow over Ground Zero."
Others compare the idea to building a German cultural center at Auschwitz.
"Spitting in the Face of Everyone Murdered on 9/11," writes Blitz, a self-described "anti-jihadist newspaper."
Source: AFP
K.Venugopal
#1
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 17:49:58
Mr. (Mu)barak Hussain Obama may not be averse to the idea of a mosque not just near ground zero but at ground zero itself. It appears he believes the best way of winning over the Islamic world is by appeasing them (not unlike our Congress tradition in India). Muslims of course are not bothered about American sensitivities at ground zero. They are sensitive only if it is about building non-Islamic religious places in their holy land of Saudi Arabia.
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3917852&pgnew=true&_p=0baa524d-831a-4832-bf53-547f825c89d3&_nwpt=1#uc2Lst0baa524d-831a-4832-bf53-547f825c89d3
New York: An ambitious plan to build a mosque right next to New York’s Ground Zero is prompting hope — and anger — in a city that has been scarred by terrorism.
There's little to see now at the site, an abandoned clothing store two blocks from the former World Trade Center where nearly 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001.
But Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York imam and a leader of the project, says the planned multi-storey Islamic center will transform both the drab lower Manhattan street and the way Americans have looked on Muslims since 9/11.
Boasting a mosque with sports facilities, a theater and possibly day care, the center would be open to all visitors to demonstrate that Muslims are part of their community, not some separate element.
"There's nothing like this that we know of in the United States," Rauf said. "This will be a community center for everyone, not just for Muslims, but non-Muslims."
The Islamic center is part of Rauf's program, called the Cordoba Initiative, meant to build bridges between the West and the Muslim world.
But because of the proposed mosque's location, just around the corner from the gaping Ground Zero hole, Rauf's call for peace is seen by some as a battle cry.
"The outrage continues," says website www.nomosquesatgroundzero.wordpress.com under a close-up of the collapsing Twin Towers.
Accusing the Cordoba Initiative of trying to "sneak it through," the protest site says the center will "cast a rude shadow over Ground Zero."
Others compare the idea to building a German cultural center at Auschwitz.
"Spitting in the Face of Everyone Murdered on 9/11," writes Blitz, a self-described "anti-jihadist newspaper."
Source: AFP
K.Venugopal
#1
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 17:49:58
Mr. (Mu)barak Hussain Obama may not be averse to the idea of a mosque not just near ground zero but at ground zero itself. It appears he believes the best way of winning over the Islamic world is by appeasing them (not unlike our Congress tradition in India). Muslims of course are not bothered about American sensitivities at ground zero. They are sensitive only if it is about building non-Islamic religious places in their holy land of Saudi Arabia.
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3917852&pgnew=true&_p=0baa524d-831a-4832-bf53-547f825c89d3&_nwpt=1#uc2Lst0baa524d-831a-4832-bf53-547f825c89d3
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