News analysis
Arab reactions to the Cordoba mosque
What the Arab papers say
Aug 19th 2010, 16:01 by The Economist online
HAVING largely ignored the story in recent weeks, the Arab press has begun to take note of the controversy over plans for Cordoba House, an Islamic centre near ground zero in New York, after Barack Obama spoke out on the issue. The commentary thus far has mixed consternation that the project is meeting so much opposition with caution about how those behind it should proceed.
Many commentators noted with concern rising Islamophobia in America. Hossam Eitani, writing in Dar al-Hayat, a pan-Arab daily, places the current bout of anti-Islamic feeling in a wider context of intolerance of minorities being championed by the tea-party movement:
Some key figures in the Republican Party, such as former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, have come out in support of those opposed to the construction of mosques. The Tea Party movement supports them because it backs the Republican Party and is counting on a majority of Americans to contribute to the movement's religious, social and racist chauvinism. The group began by targeting Mr Obama and his social programme. It did everything possible to hinder his healthcare reforms. It has gone on to support Arizona's racist immigration law, designed to prevent Latin American immigration to America. Now it is taking an active role campaigning against building mosques.
Some are concerned about what this populism means for America’s democracy. In Jordan’s al-Ghad newspaper, Yasser Abu Halala argues that America must choose what it wants New York to symbolise—war with the Islamic world or the integration of the country's Muslims:
A rational person would prefer to build rather than tear down, but whoever said that public opinion is rational and democracy not fragile?
But other influential figures have suggested that the issue can be viewed in a different light. Writing in Okaz, a Saudi daily paper, Hani Naqshabandi uses the fact that the Cordoba Initiative, the project’s backer, was granted building permission by New York’s local authorities to hold up America as an example for Arab nations:
In the Arab world, freedom makes way for security. We have become overly paranoid about everything. Look at the story of this mosque that is set to be built in the financial capital of America. America was burnt by the fire of extremism in its own backyard when it was attacked by Islamic extremists. It is both the number one target for religious extremism and the leading nation opposing that extremism. But still it has overcome its fears by allowing Muslims to build the mosque.
Other prominent Arab voices suggested that, in the face of so much public resentment, it might be better to build the mosque elsewhere, as Salama Ahmed Salama, a moderate Egyptian columnist for the independent daily al-Shorouk, wrote:
I do not think that President Barack Obama’s intervention supporting the construction of a mosque and Islamic centre near the site of the World Trade Centre in New York… was prudent or wise for several reasons. While it was based on the principle of defending freedom of worship in America and the rights of Muslims to practise their religion, the fallout from the campaigns inciting hatred against Muslims will be greater than the symbolic significance of his decision. […]
In my opinion, it is better for the Muslims of New York to build their mosque somewhere else, far away from this American commotion and harm. Muslim groups are already beginning to complain of growing American hostility towards them....
More controversially, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, a regular contributor to Saudi-owned London-based daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat and the managing editor of the Saudi pan-Arab news channel al-Arabiya, argued in an article entitled “A mosque or a symbol of destruction?” that the media has blown the issue out of proportion. According to Mr al-Rashed, there is little Muslim demand for a mosque to be built near ground zero:
What Americans don't understand is that the battle with the terrorists behind 9/11 is not their fight, but rather a battle for Muslims, as over twenty Islamic states struggle against terrorism. Some Muslims will consider the construction of a mosque there [by Ground Zero] as a commemoration and immortalization of what the terrorists, who committed their crime in the name of Islam, did. I don't think that the majority of Muslims want to build a symbol or a place of worship that could become a place for terrorists and their Muslim followers to take pride in. Or a building that could become a shrine of hatred against Islam that turns public opinion against it, as seems to be the case at the moment, with claims that a mosque is being built on the bodies of three thousand dead Americans, buried alive as some people shout "Allahu Akbar", the same call which will be heard from the mosque. It is a false battle; [...] there are no devoted Muslims who want a place of worship there.
Mr al-Rashed’s article met with criticism in a popular Emirati publication, Al-Khaleej, where Habib al-Sabegh writes a scathing response:
Raising ideas of this kind is harmful and irrational. What Mr al-Rashed has apparently missed is that, through his article, he is actually linking the mosque and terrorism. This contrived link, based on irrational and illogical preconceived notions, deepens the stereotypes against Islam and Muslims in the collective memory of the other. Islam is not "al-Qaeda" and Muslims are not Osama bin Laden.
To read full translations and further commentary, please go to Meedan.net.
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A PS: It was not the Muslims that started off the game of which religion is the only true religion of God, that was the Jewish faith after being condemned in years gone by as being the slayers of Jesus, by the Christians, which then also claim that they was the only true religion of God.
We do play silly games when it comes down to it, don't we?
A lot of noise over a religion that prays to the same God as the Christians and the Jews. What is really going on there? Is the noise over a mosque that may be built close to where the Trade Centre was, is it real? Or is it because of the miss understanding of someone else's culture? Is it of some political hype because of upcoming elections in the USA? If not what is all about?
I hope it is not what I haven't put into questions above. For most people in the USA are fair minded lot, well as fair minded as anyone anywhere else in the world. But if polls and opinions are showing that more people disapprove of a mosque-recreation centre being built two blocks from ground zero, as it's been called these days, well they are doing themselves a disservice on hype that bad things happen in mosques only, they will miss out on seeing a building that will be a big improvement architecturally for that area and for those who may live or work close by that area will also may benefit from the activities that they are putting into that building, from what I hear, it's going to be open to all peoples. So if you like classy amenities you got to go there. Don't muck it up by not allowing it to be built, for the Muslims do know how to do classy, stylish and practical buildings, besides if they do food there, well you will get to find out what great food is about as well.
It is these types of things that get the head shaking in the Middle East, the countries of the Islam a simple thing as a building, little own been demonised as Axis of Terror, wanting to take over the world, having weapons of mass destruction and so on, when they see the Western countries are holding much more weapons of mass destruction, nuclear plants that produce the product that produce the weapons still, maybe they fear us taking over the world, goodness only know we have tried to many times.
Considering that the two biggest religions are the Christian(2.1 billion Christians) and of the Islamic Faith(1.1 billion of Islam) having the same god, a good number of the same prophets as one another haven't stopped this rubbish of intolerance, and that is all it is really when it comes down to it, but is stirred up by a very few for their own ends on both sides.
Maybe the Mosque being built near the Twin Towers would be a good start, after all, it was only a few that had anything to do with bring down the Twin Towers, not a billion people.
To Islam , no other religion is true. Forget a church and a mosque under the same roof.
The Koran does not allow it.
'remember - There is no other God, But Allah'
Any other ideas ?
Let me tell you , This Imam is so insensitive , that he never considered the pain that this would cause a lot of surviving relatives.
Anyone can forgive, But not everyone can get over the pain.The thoughts of people dying in agony, of lives cut short before their time, the death of an only child. No-one can ever get over it totally.
What kind of a man is this ? did he never consider all the pain he has brought back to these people ? Did he only consider the glory of erecting a mosque in the most islamic sensitive place on earth?
And now he does not think that he has the courage to withdraw.he could have built the biggest mosque in NY, somewhere else.
Why is he so insensitive ?
aniscal wrote: Aug 21st 2010 8:58 GMT @UK IN: "'America built on the backs of multitude of cultures...'. My foot. America was built after killing all the natives - that was a holocaust that would make Nazis regret about their performance. Murderers have always been most powerful people and that is America."
And what country, pray tell, was not blodily acquired from the previous owners. You sound British, so let me remind you of your own history: The picts overran and extinguished the Stonehenge builders, who were then overrun and pushe out by the Celts, who were then overrun by Angles, Jutes and Saxons, who were then conquered by Frenchified Vikings [Normans}.
The word limit is too short for me to go over every country, you should really read a history book sometime and find out for yourself.
As to the original inhabitants of North America, they had been overrun and extinguised a thousand years or more before the Europeans came.
None of this is just, and none of what we do today can be justified by what went before. Your rant was ignorant of fact and quite one-sided. Please do read that history book.
Wouldn't it be better if instead of building a purely Islamic centre efforts were put into getting a Mosque AND a Church under a same roof? This would be more of a symbolic representation of unity and a way to show some respect to the lives lost at Ground Zero.
Lot's of Moslems do live in New York. They are not as noisy and pushy as Jews, but they vote.
This anti-Islamic fervor, fanned by Jews, will be helpful to the Moslems in the long run, and the country as a whole.
The term "racist" is grossly over used. I oppose construction of the mosque near Ground Zero because it is a shotgun in the eye to the United States, to the survivors of the attack on the World Trade Center, and to the families and friends of those who were killed. Imam Rauf and his followers show no sensitivity to Americans, yet Americans (and Canadians) are supposed to be compassionate towards Muslims regardless of the Muslim position.
I do not know whether most Muslims oppose or support construction of the mosque downtown near Ground Zero, though I do know that many have voiced opposition. What is surprising is the nearly virulent stand of the Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, and of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in favor of the mosque. If that mosque truly must be built in NYC then another site needs to be selected.
I'd like for people here to watch these videos and honestly answer:
Is the "supposed" mosque in NYC worst than these Christian's memorial in a Muslim country?
Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja
Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities
The children of Falluja
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birt...
Deformed babies in Fallujah
Iraq LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS
http://uruknet.info/index.php?p=m58926&hd=&size=1&l=e
Apologies - I did not mean "Obama is clearly a Muslim" I meant "Osama is clearly a Muslim". Obama is CLEARLY not a Muslim and sure he misspoke once in an interview and anyone who has never made a mistake saying anything in their lives still don't have an argument because they know this happens even if not to them.
In fact, I doubt he is really a Christian... How could any thinking person believe in any religion?
Listen very carefully America:
Please learn to understand the meaning of "Cordoba" in Islamic tradition: "Cordoba" represents the glorious victory of the soldiers of Allah over Spain. Countless of thousands of Christians were slaughtered there in order to force the people to accept Islam.
The name "Cordoba" chosen for the Mosque near Ground Zero, is anything but a friendly name.It is a symbol of victory !!
Islamic tradition requires that wherever Islam won a great victory, a mosque shall be built.
Adding all that up clearly leads to one conclusion: We must not allow this mosque to be built.
One more thing:
The USA should demand that Saudi Arabia allow the opening of Churches in Saudi Arabia. This "street" cannot be a one way street any loger!!
@Tom Silo
If I remember correctly, President Obama used The Bible to swear into the Office of the Presidency of the United States of America.
Therefore, If you have material evidence of President Obama's Islamic Faith, then you have a case for his impeachment. If not, you are liable to be sued by the White House for slander, as you are accusig the President of Lying at the Inauguration. Think about it...
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fjfoley wrote:
Where is the outcry when Muslims terrorists slaughter innocents? God forbid the people of the United States ask the Muslims to show some compassion to the victims of the 911 attacks and build the mosque somewhere else.
-----------
Not only are your facts wrong, but you also make baseless claims like the one I quoted above. Peaceful Muslims do care when people are slaughtered or maimed by extremists. Many overseas Muslims even act to eradicate terrorism on their own soil. One of the reasons the United States military was able to make progress in Iraq was thanks in no small part to local leaders that rallied their constituents against radical organizations like al-Qaeda in Iraq.
And Muslims have shown compassion after 9/11. Some Middle Eastern countries actually committed troops to the War in Afghanistan when it was first launched back in 2001.
You justify your personal bias against Islam by claiming that the majority of terrorists are Muslims. Well, the majority of Muslims are not terrorists. Thus, Islam itself should not be impugned for the actions of a relative few bent on violence and destruction.
By allowing this mosque to be built, we can show the world that we are not afraid to stand by our principles in the face of terrorist threats. It would go a long way to showing Middle Easterners that America is a truly tolerant nation.