Imam Plans to Proceed With So-Called Ground Zero Mosque

BY Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

After weeks of silence, the imam at the center of a controversy over building a mosque near Ground Zero is speaking out. His message is clear: the plan will move forward.

In an op-ed piece published in The New York Times, Feisal Abdul Rauf said he was "awed by how inflamed and emotional" the issue has become.

The chairman of the Cordoba Initiative stressed that he was proceeding with the support of the downtown community and officials like President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg—pointing out that Obama is Christian and Bloomberg is Jewish.

"Their statements sent a powerful message about what America stands for," wrote Rauf.

The imam's latest comments echo sentiments he wrote in an op-ed piece for the Daily News in May. He said then that the project centered on American values, including freedom of worship, tolerance and human dignity.

The imam has been criticized for not speaking out since the mosque has become a national issue.

In his latest editorial, Rauf explained that he had been traveling abroad for the past two months—including a 15-day trip paid for by the U.S. State Department to promote religious tolerance in the Middle East.

He said he felt it would "not be right to comment from abroad" and that he wanted to confer with leaders of other faiths involved in the project. He did say during the trip that he believes the protests against the center are being fueled by politics and the upcoming midterm elections.

Opponents of the project, including former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), have said the mosque should be built further away from where Islamic extremists destroyed the World Trade Center and killed nearly 2,800 people. [See who donates the most money to Reid's campaign.]

Rauf said the $100 million community center will include separate prayer spaces for "Muslims, Christians, Jews and men and women of other faiths." He added there would be a memorial for victims of 9/11 and insisted that all financing would be made public.

Rauf said it was critical to not back away from the project. To do nothing, he argued, would benefit radicals wishing to harm those in the U.S.

"The wonderful outpouring of support for our right to build this community center from across the social, religious and political spectrum seriously undermines the ability of anti-American radicals to recruit young, impressionable Muslims by falsely claiming that America persecutes Muslims for their faith," he wrote.

"These efforts by radicals at distortion endanger our national security and the personal security of Americans worldwide."

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• More political coverage from the Daily News.
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