My friend Wajahat Ali is hosting the GOATMILK DEBATE series, and asked me to contribute against the motion that "muslims should adopt monsighting for Ramadan". The initial entry, in favor of the motion, was posted earlier by Irfan Rydhan. Below is my response, cross-posted at GOATMILK.

My brother Irfan Rydhan makes a compelling case in defense of moonsighting for Ramadan, and I think it is important to assert here that I do not intend to attempt to refute his case. The motion under debate is whether all muslims should adopt moonsighting, not the validity of moonsighting per se. My intention in this debate is to emphasize that there IS a valid debate about whether moonsighting is the sole method of establishing Ramadan, and to question the assumption that my brother makes, that there is some inherent value in all muslims adopting an identical practice rather than embracing the diversity of valid interpretation and traditions we have inherited as a truly global Ummah.

Irfan begins his case with the Qur'an, so let's revisit ayat 2:185, using Quran.com:

Pickthall: And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey, (let him fast the same) number of other days.

Yusuf Ali: So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later.

Shakir: therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or upon a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days;

Note that these translations disagree with Irfan's formulation - the actual phrase in contention is, "shahida minkumu ashshahra" where the literal translation of the words in isolation would be "witness the month". However, note that the three most prominent translators of the Qur'an chose to translate the phrase as "is present during the month" instead. Irfan insists that "shahida" be interpreted literally as "witness" but then argues that some scholars accept a symbolic definition of "shahr" as "crescent moon" instead rather than the literal meaning of "month".

I am famously skeptical of translations, but if we must use them, why be selective on a per-word basis? Doesn't an ayat's meaning depend on the structure of the verse as a whole, and the context of surrounding verses? I do not fault someone for interpreting 2:185 such that "shahida" is "witness" and "shahr" is "crescent moon" as Irfan does, but other formulations such as "witness the month" and "present in the month" are at least as justifiable.

Irfan also invokes a hadith to support his view. However, that hadith explains how someone may use the moon to establish Ramadan if they are trying to determine when to fast; it does not define moonsighting as the sole normative method to do so! And there are plenty of other hadith that support the use of calculation as well. Since hadith are even more contentious than translations, I don't think there's much point in using them to refute, only to justify.

Ultimately, trying to make a theological case for moonsighting alone is a futile excercise, because there is no consensus - in 2006 the Fiqh Council of North America adopted the compromise position that astronomical calculations were indeed valid, especially as a means for ruling out physically-impossible moonsighting reports. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah wrote a lengthy rebuttal to Shaykh Yusuf, pointing out that the act of witnessing the new moon itself is not an act of worship in and of itself, and is merely a means of telling time. Another thorough and scholarly essay by Dr. Louay Safi notes that the choice is not between moonsighting and calculation, but rather personal testimony and calculation. Further essays and reading material on the debate are available at the Fiqh Council's website. Of course, Brother Irfan made his theological case by invoking interpretations supportive of his view, but it is important to remember that this debate is fourteen centuries old. As we are all muslim brothers and sisters, we are obligated to acknowledge that there are different schools of valid jurisprudence and accord them respect.

The irony is that as the Fiqh Council noted, even moonsighters rely on calculation to vet the sightings, using sophisticated lunar visibility maps such as this one:

But lets also note that these maps tell you the visibility of the moon from Earth, and do not comment on the actual phase of the moon itself. In fact, the actual phase of the moon is completely independent of observers on earth - it is defined by the geometry of the Sun, Earth and Moon system in space. The date of the crescent moon can therefore be precisely calculated as an objective truth, independent of flawed human reasoning and observation and geography. As the Qur'an says, "the sun and the moon follow courses [exactly] computed" by Allah (55:5). To argue otherwise is to say that if a tree falls in a forest and there is no one to hear it, it did not even fall!

Leaving the issue of theology aside, what of the poetic arguments made by Brother Irfan? To be honest, these are the ones that I find most moving and compelling. There is indeed a romantic appeal in the notion of unity, and I wholeheartedly agree with my brother about the feeling of wonderment and awe when seeing the crescent moon in the sky. But why only the crescent moon? During Ramadan, the very act of looking at the moon, as it grows to full and then wanes again, is itself ibadat - for it is the visible, God-appointed marker of our brief window in which our pious actions are magnified. Ramadan's very mortality is measured by the moon every day of the month, not just the first. I believe that our imaan is magnified not just by seeking the moon at the outset, but reflecting (no pun intended) on the meaning of the moon's entire cycle. The precision of the calendar is not a false creation of man, but itself is a reflection of the perfection of Creation, the divinity of Mathematics, and of the vast and awe-inspiring celestial harmony that surrounds us and exists, arguably, for our sole benefit. I am humbled by the moon every day in Ramadan.

And if we are to celebrate unity, as I agree we should, then let us note that there is also unity for those who observe the calendar. Those of us who abide by the calendar begin and end Ramadan worldwide in unison, akin to the unity of praying salaat behind an imam. With all due respect to Brother Irfan, it is not about getting a day off of work or Eid-day sales at the mall, but about a sincere action of faith. It is distressing that the motives of those who disagree must be impugned in such a way - I believe that causes far more disunity than the moonsighting debate itself. Let us be united - by celebrating our diversity of tradition.

Last night was the first full moon of Ramadan - and by the calendar, the 14th of Ramadan as well. What better affirmation of the majesty and perfection of creation, than this?

Tags: City Of Brass

There is no prohibition against playing basketball during Ramadan, a monthlong period of fasting and self-reflection for Muslims, but it has the unfortunate side effect of dehydrating its players. "Since I get thirsty, I don't want to play that much," Jay explained. He has fasted from sunup to sundown each day since the holiday started Aug. 11. "So I play with socks and slippers. We all do." He pointed to a friend, also an observant Muslim, sitting one bench down at the basketball court, in flip-flops. The slippers and flip-flops slow the boys down and send a clear signal: game not on. The end of August can be an achingly melancholy season, tinged with regret and premature nostalgia for a summer not yet over. But for New York's observant Muslim teenagers -- most start fasting no later than puberty -- summer as they knew it summarily ended when daytime fasting began curtailing their options. Out: jaunts to the beach (too thirst-inducing). Out: pizza lunch with friends. Out: playing basketball for keeps.

Tags: City Of Brass

I really don't have anything left to say about Park51, barring any new developments (pun intended). But the repeated phrase "mosque at Ground Zero" was ringing familiar to me for some reason, and I just realized why - this old article from December 2001 in Slate, about the architecture of the World Trade Center, and how architect Minoru Yamasaki drew his design inspirations from Islamic sources:

Yamasaki received the World Trade Center commission the year after the Dhahran Airport was completed. Yamasaki described its plaza as "a mecca, a great relief from the narrow streets and sidewalks of the surrounding Wall Street area." True to his word, Yamasaki replicated the plan of Mecca's courtyard by creating a vast delineated square, isolated from the city's bustle by low colonnaded structures and capped by two enormous, perfectly square towers-minarets, really. Yamasaki's courtyard mimicked Mecca's assemblage of holy sites-the Qa'ba (a cube) containing the sacred stone, what some believe is the burial site of Hagar and Ishmael, and the holy spring-by including several sculptural features, including a fountain, and he anchored the composition in a radial circular pattern, similar to Mecca's.

At the base of the towers, Yamasaki used implied pointed arches-derived from the characteristically pointed arches of Islam-as a transition between the wide column spacing below and the dense structural mesh above. (Europe imported pointed arches from Islam during the Middle Ages, and so non-Muslims have come to think of them as innovations of the Gothic period.) Above soared the pure geometry of the towers, swathed in a shimmering skin, which doubled as a structural web-a giant truss. Here Yamasaki was following the Islamic tradition of wrapping a powerful geometric form in a dense filigree, as in the inlaid marble pattern work of the Taj Mahal or the ornate carvings of the courtyard and domes of the Alhambra.

Indeed, the WTC was a monument to the finanial Mecca of Wall Street, two great minarets as an abstract mosque to Commerce. They really were magnificent buildings, weren't they?

And it's a travesty that nine years later, Ground Zero is still a construction site.

photo from user berkessel on Flickr

Tags: City Of Brass

The controversy over Park51 has long since passed the realm of tragedy and now is well into farce. This story has displaced far more pressing issues like the floods in Pakistan, the lingering environmental disaster in the Gulf, and of course the economic crisis which will still be the primary issue driving the November elections.

Part of the problem is how few muslim American voices there are in the debate. A few have come out against the project, like Asra Nomani and Zuhdi Jasser, but as a writer to TPM pointed out, the pundit class barely qualifies as representative of mainstream opinion. I've certainly done my own best to lend my perspective, on the radio as well as here on the blog. Here's my final take on the subject, as an attempt to explain my own support for Park51 as well as my frustrations over the meta narrative.

Just to review, Park51 is a planned community center complex intended to serve the public needs of lower Manhattan. There is a mosque planned as part of the complex, which is located two blocks north of the site of the 9-11 attacks. The complex will include a swimming pool, an auditorium, art exhibition space, retail shops, and many other amenities and facilities that would be open to use by everyone, muslim and non-muslim alike, in the same manner as a YMCA or other community resource. The mosque aspect is just one portion of the plan, and would not be a towering structure with minarets and loudspeakers playing azaan, but would simply be dedicated prayer space for muslim observances, akin to a chapel in a hospital. That mosque is a critical element of the plan, as there is a severe shortage of prayer space in lower Manhattan. The developer of the project, Sharif el Gamal (SoHo Properties), has even publicly pledged to have non-muslims included on the board of directors.

The labeling of the project as the "Ground Zero Mosque" by Islamophobic blogger Pamela Gellar was admittedly an act of branding genius. But though she sowed the seed, she is hardly responsible for the fertile ground for hatemongering and bigotry that provided it nourishment to grow into the media monster we have right now. There's no escaping the political dimension of this story. Republicans have largely demagogued the issue, exploiting it for partisan gain (though a small coterie of former Bush Administration officials and politically-conservative muslims have been trying to change this from the inside). The Democrats, meanwhile, preferred to stay silent on the issue, fearing it would be used against them in the upcoming elections if they were seen publically embracing muslims' civil rights. I'm not sure whether their silence is more shameful or not than Senator Reid's outright statement that the mosque should be built someplace else. Even the ADL abandoned its very founding principles and came out in opposition to the project. President Obama did do the right thing by strongly affirming the principle of religious freedom, though he later clarified that he wasn't taking an explicit position on the "wisdom" of the specific project or not - which is still better than former president Bush's flat refusal to comment at all, even on the issue of liberties.

My general take on the debate is that it really does boil down to an issue not just of religious freedom but also a means of putting into practice the very American values which Al Qaeda seeks to deny. A mosque in NYC, near to the site of 9-11, is not a "monument to the attackers" (a pernicious claim, which puts collective responsibility for the terrorist attacks on all Muslim Americans) but actually a repudiation of the Al Qaeda ideology. What they want is to make Muslim Americans reject American identity and follow their call to jihad - explicitly, as Anwar al Awlaki has repeatedly stated, and even succeeded (ref the cases of Fort Hood and Times Square). An American mosque, built for American Muslims, is literally the antithesis of what the enemy most desires.

The bigotry unleashed by this whole affair plays perfectly into our enemies' hands.

That said, the majority of public opposition to the mosque stems from misunderstanding, not bigotry. The topic of 9-11 is an emotional one, and it is hard to have a rational debate when raw emotion is at play. I find it impossible to believe that 30% of the American public could be bigots at heart (the same percentage, coincidentally, of people who oppose the project as who believe Obama was born in Kenya and is a crypto-muslim). However, you can be a decent person and still hold some racist or bigoted views. In fact that percentage of people who carry such baggage probably approaches 100%, myself included.

When you combine the emotional impact of 9-11, the undercurrent of prejudice against Islam borne of fear of the unknown/centuries of Orientalism marking it as the quintessential Other, and then layer onto that the background signal of racial intolerance that is America's original sin and persists to this day, then you are basically confronted with a pretty skewed playing field, against which the idealized rhetoric of universal rights and freedoms has a disadvantage. It's to the credit of our national character however that we are actually having a debate. That suggests to me that these concepts can survive exposure to these obstacles. Were this another country, such as one Newt Gingrich feels should be the benchmark for our behavior, there would be no debate at all.

The question for Muslim Americans should not be whether Park51 gets built or not, but how to express our identity in ways that facilitate our acceptance by our fellow citizens without sacrificing our values or compromising on our beliefs.

American Muslims are mostly an optimistic bunch. We can concede there are prejudices at work against us here, but that's part of the mix I described above. We have to be pragmatic and remember that every group before us, the Jews, the Catholics, etc had to face pretty much the same gauntlet prior to acceptance. I think the danger is that American Muslims will perceive unequal treatment and withdraw from civic engagement. The question isn't why we are facing this hostility but rather whether that hostility makes our attempts at assimilation moot. That's a debate we don't want to be having, but is being forced upon us. I hope that as a community of communities, Muslim Americans don't become disheartened and lose that essential optimism that really makes us American. Unfortunately, with precisely half of the American political landscape opposed to us, it's going to be a tough fight ahead to stay optimistic.

Of course, the Muslim American community didn't ask to be included in Park51′s project, but we have been dragged into it forcibly. In some ways it would be a relief if the issue went away. However, if the project does fail, then I think that the message that will be sent is that bigotry and fear of Muslims is not just permitted, it is effective. This may result in short term relief for Muslim Americans, but surely longer term pain. To be honest I don't know what I prefer in that regard.

If the project is going to fail, maybe it is better it fail now than later. Certainly the Muslim American community will take a hit either way. If I sound cynical it's only because I think that there's a failure of leadership here and that has done as much damage to Muslim American aspirations as the most committed Islamophobes profiting from exploiting 9-11 passions.

Still, I subscribe to the view that the center's existence would be a powerful symbol and repudiation of the ideology of Al Qaeda. So despite my misgivings about the cost to the Muslim American community, on a broader scale, I think it is good for America that the project succeed. This is why I still count myself a supporter of Park51.

Many thanks to Scott Payne for interviewing me about Park51 at his blog, The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, which provided me the framework for articulating my thoughts above. Go check out the interview there, and my own blog archives, for more of my ruminations on the topic.

Now, let's change the subject. According to the UN, the floods in Pakistan have affected more people than the 2004 Tsunami, the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti... combined. But the response to those tragedies was far more immediate and sustained than the anemic response to this one. What can you do? Find out by joining the Pakistan Flood Action NOW group on Facebook and following @floodaction on Twitter. In Ramadan, our focus must be to act in service of humanity, and this is the tragedy of the hour that demands our attention.

Tags: City Of Brass

Republican leaders have largely abandoned former President George W. Bush's post-Sept. 11 rhetorical embrace of American Muslims and his insistence -- always controversial inside the party -- that Islam is a religion of peace. This weekend, former Bush aides were among the very few Republicans siding with Obama, as many of the party's leaders have moved toward more vocal denunciations of Islam's role in violence abroad and suspicion of its place at home.

Polling indicates that the mosque proposal is unpopular among voters, with a recent CNN survey showing that 68 percent of voters disapproving of the plan. But a top White House official told POLITICO Obama was determined to raise the issue, even though he knew polls were decisively against the mosque.

"We had no illusions about this. He didn't take this on as a political strategy. He took it on because it was a matter of fundamental principle. One of the reasons we work for him is that he doesn't sit there with a political calculator on these big, tough issues that come along. There was never any hesitation about the decision, and he has absolutely no regrets about it," the official said.

"He understands the emotions swirling around it and the horrific events that occurred there. But he doesn't believe shifting from our moorings as a country on questions like religious freedom -- treating one faith differently than another -- is the right answer. It would be a betrayal of who we are."

Conservatives rightly bristle at the federal government's micromanagement of land in the American West, with the highest profile example being the closure of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. So why should we invite the feds into land use review in Manhattan? What New York allows to be built in its Financial District is not the federal government's business.

What I find bizarre about some of the conservative response to Cordoba House is not just the objection to the construction of the mosque, but the conviction that it should be stopped by any means necessary--even if that means violating conservative principles about property rights, rule of law, and federalism. 

Tags: City Of Brass

Two American muslims, Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq, have begun a 30-day roadtrip across America, in a goal of visiting 30 mosques in 30 days in 30 states during Ramadan. They just started since yesterday was day 1 of Ramadan for most muslim communities - beginning their journey in New York (here's their road map).

And I congratulate them on choosing to visit the current, makeshift mosque at 51 Park Street as part of their first day. They have taken what probably are the only public photos of the current prayer space inside the location of the old Burlington Coat Factory building that exist on the Internet. These are a must-see, and really underscore the need for a proper mosque facility to serve lower Manhattan.

Go check out what they thought about the dreaded Park51 mosque and if you are able, chip in a few bucks to them to help them finance their road trip. These guys deserve our support!

(and yes, of course it isn't the "Ground Zero Mosque", it's really the "makeshift prayer space two blocks from Ground Zero" - but it's still the epicenter of the furious nationwide debate. And yet, like the eye of any hurricane, it's so peaceful inside...)

Tags: City Of Brass

Just in time for Ramadan - next week, Whole Foods will be carrying the new Saffron Road line of certified halal food products! You can even get a coupon for a free entree online. The entrees include chicken biryani, chicken tikka masala, lamb saag, and lamb vindaloo (obviously a south asian palette). The company behind the Saffron Road line is American Halal, which describes its mission thus:

AMERICAN HALAL'S MISSION is to offer natural Halal foods which are sustainably farmed or organic and adhere to Fair Trade practices. All of our livestock are zabiha slaughtered using traditional Halal methods which we believe are more pristine and true to the original intent of the Halal tradition. Our livestock are humanely raised, fed only 100% vegetarian feed and never ever fed anti-biotics or given growth hormones. We seek to bring our mission to a higher calling with our creator and community, embodying a socially conscious ethic as well as being a dedicated green company. Our desire is to usher in a higher gold standard as the healthier and most authentic alternative for Muslim and non-Muslim consumers alike. We hope you savor our wholesome, authentic, ethical, and healthy Halal foods.

It's clear that Halal is going mainstream. Also, if you have an iPhone or iPod, you really need to get the Zabihah.com app, which lets you find the nearest halal food locations. Incredibly useful! (or just visit zabihah.com)

Tags: City Of Brass

This guest post is an excerpt from the memoir, The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson.

THE BUTTERFLY MOSQUE

A Memoir by G. Willow Wilson

PROLOGUE

In the upper reaches of the Zagros Mountains, the air changed. The high altitude opened it, cleared it of the dust of the valleys, and made it sing a little in the lungs; low atmospheric pressure. It was a shift I recognized. We had been driving for hours, winding north along a wide dry basin between high peaks; then we turned west. Now the car, an old Peugot, struggled upward along switch-backs cut into the mountainside, past intersecting layers of rock laid down over geological ages.

For a moment I was reminded intensely of home. It had been almost a year since I had been back to Boulder, in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. The snug valley where I had gone to high school, learned to drive; where my parents and sister still lived, could be seen as a tidy whole from this height in cliffs much like these. Looking down into the plain below, I felt as though I was seeing double, and that an hour's hike along the switch-backs would bring me to my own doorstep.

At the time, it was a sensation that seemed a little perverse. I had just flown into Iran from Egypt-this journey had begun thousands of miles from my own country. That a mountain and a change in the air in Iran should make me think of home in the spring of 2004; the spring of the War on Terror, the Clash of Civilizations, the Jihad, the things that had made my quiet life almost unlivable, must be sheer perversity. I thought so then. I didn't yet realize that the Zagros Mountains had no name when they were forced out of the ground millions of years ago, and neither did the Rockies; that the call of earth to earth might be something more real than the human divisions of Iran and America. I had faith, then; it was in the mountains that I first thought of divinity, and these mountains reminded me of that sensation. But I didn't yet have faith in faith-I didn't trust the connections I felt between mountains or memories, and if I had been a little more ambivalent, I could have allowed the Zagros to be foreign, and the memory to be coincidence.

Fortunately, I didn't.

Ahmad, my guide-plus-chaperone, pointed west over the receding peaks.

"If you keep driving that way, you would get to Iraq," he said. He was a Shirazi man with silver hair and laugh-lines. Before the revolution he flew planes for the Shah, whom he had hated, but not as much as he now hated the mullahs. During one of our conversations on the road from Shiraz to Isfahan, he told me he used to fast during Ramadan and pray with some regularity. The Islamic regime had so deformed his religion in his eyes that he stopped. Thinking I would judge him for this lapse lest he provide a rationale (I was an American and a Sunni, and therefore unpredictable) he told me he didn't need to fast; fasting was meant to remind one of the hunger of the poor, and he helped the poor in other ways.

"Then why do the poor fast?" I asked him. The Ramadan fast was required of all Muslims, not just the wealthy. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye; evidently I was an American Sunni who discussed theology. Among the middle classes, theology had gone out of fashion in Iran. But I had just come from Egypt, where the reverse was true. Ahmad left the question floating in the air.

"Iraq?" I climbed on a rock near the edge of the promontory where we were standing, having parked the car on the shoulder of the road. My Nikes stuck out from under the hem of my black robe. I had overdressed. In Khatami's Tehran, chadors and manteaux had been replaced by short, tight house-coats and scarves that were barely larger than handkerchiefs. Knowing only that Iran was under a religious dictatorship, and Egypt was under a military one, I had dressed as conservatively as possible. I didn't realize that whatever the political reality, Egypt was far more socially conservative than Iran. The reasons for this would only become clear to me later: when a dictatorship claims absolute authority over an idea-in the case of Iran, Islam, in the case of Egypt, a ham-fisted brand of socialism-frustrated citizens will run to the opposite ideological extreme. The Islamic Republic was secularizing Iran; in Egypt the short-robed fundamentalists multiplied and multiplied.

"Yes, Iraq. I think at night further south-west you could maybe see the bombs falling. But far away; first the plain of Karbala, then Baghdad." Ahmad came to stand next to my rock, and pointed northwest. "Karbala is where Imam Husayn is buried."

"We have his head," I said, thinking of the fasting argument. "In Cairo. There's a square named after him where the shrine is."

"What?"

"His head," I repeated, wondering whether I should put an honorific before 'his'; Husayn was a grandson of the Prophet and beloved by all Muslims, but particularly revered by Shi'ites. I didn't want to commit a faux pas. No matter what Ahmad thought about fasting. I put one hand to my back; the infection in my kidneys had manifested itself as a dull spreading pain there, and a touch of fever. Living in an industrial neighborhood in Cairo, not a clean city to begin with, I had developed an unfortunate apathy toward my health.

"This is the first time I hear this about Imam Husayn," muttered Ahmad, and broke out into a laugh.

"It's true," I said, "The Fatimids brought him with them. At least, that's what the ulema tell us; maybe it's all a lie and the shrine is empty." A light wind ran down the channel of the valley below. I took a breath and held it for a moment, then let it out in a sigh. Ahmad smiled a little.

"Thank you," I said, "It's beautiful up here."

Later in the car, Ahmad told me "I think you are becoming a little bit Arab." He said so gently, but this is not a compliment in Persia. On some level, I agreed with him-I was so submerged in Cairo, so cut off from America, that something was bound to change. Yet I still felt like myself. I was disturbed because I had been told I should be disturbed; that the Arab way of doing things, being opposed to American way of doing things, represented the betrayal of an American self. But I had discovered that I was not my habits. I was not the way I dressed or the things I did and didn't say. If I were all these things, then standing on that rock and looking west, I should have been someone else.

But I remained.

When the term 'Clash of Civilizations' was coined, it was a myth; the interdependence of world cultures lay on the surface, supported by trade and the travel of ideas, the borrowing of words from language to language. But like so many ugly ideas, the clash becomes a little more real every time someone says the word. Today, it is a theory supported not only in the West, where it was invented, but also in the Muslim world, where plenty of people see Islam as irrevocably in conflict with western values. When threatened, both Muslims and Westerners tend to toe their respective party lines, defending monolithic ideals that only exist as tools of opposition; ideals that crumble as soon as the opposing party has turned its back. The truth emerges. It is not through politics that we will be delivered from this conflict. It is not through pundits and analysts and experts. The war between 'Islam and the West' is a human conflict, in which human experience is the only reliable guide. We are all standing on the mountaintop, and we must learn to look out at the world not through the medium of self-appointed authorities, but with our own eyes.

This excerpt from The Butterfly Mosque (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2010) is reprinted with permission; you can purchase a copy from Amazon.com or local bookstores. G. Willow Wilson is also the author of the graphic novel Cairo and the comic series AIR.

Tags: City Of Brass

There's been a deluge of fantastic op-eds in support of the Park51 project, but this one in particular by Elizabeth Wurtzel at the Daily Beast really caught my eye. In part:

I'm surprised that American exceptionalism hasn't taught people opposing Cordoba something about the process of joining this society. The United States has been defined by its ability to integrate immigrants, and turn them into Americans. Every wave of migrants from every part of the world has managed to find its place here, while still maintaining its ethnic identity. This is not something that happens in, say Europe, where women from Saudi Arabia living in London never give up their burqas, and where Algerians in the cities outside Paris riot because after generations they still don't feel French.

But the American Dream is such a pretty windmill to chase that it's not a problem to get new arrivals to join in the pursuit. People come here, they start watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey, they start reading vampire novels, they start eating Chicken McNuggets-it takes very little time for them to become soft and stupid like the rest of us. This country does not routinely produce radicals; numbskulls, maybe.

So I'm not scared of Cordoba House, with or without its Wahabi backers. Yes, of course, there will be Muslim extremists, some of them even from the United States, as we have already seen. There will be trouble. Whether or not there's a Cordoba House, there will be trouble. So we can welcome the Ground Zero mosque for all the right and good reasons-or we can welcome it because it's good strategy.

This is part of why Faisal and Khan initially lauded the proximity of the project to Ground Zero - they saw it as an affirmation of American Islam, as a rebuttal to those like Anwar al Awlaki who try to prey on American muslim sentiments and lure them into jihad against their homeland.

A new article in the NYT goes on to point out that it was really the Times Square plot by Feisal Shahzad that really began the controversy and uproar against the project:

In February, the staff of Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, who liked the idea, suggested the organizers present it to Community Board 1, the largely advisory body that represents the neighborhood. Planners agreed to share information before the board and respond to expected questions about congestion and how the neighborhood could benefit.

Mr. Stringer said nobody warned them of "an Islamic issue," adding with a weary chuckle, "We really give good advice."

Preparing for a May 5 community board meeting, Ms. Khan got support from her usual allies, like the United Jewish Federation of New York; Trinity Church; and the September 11 Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow.

Some people raised concerns about the feelings of 9/11 victims, but the meeting was dominated by logistical concerns and support from those who welcomed new facilities downtown. The board gave a unanimous yes.

The next day, the uproar began. Some newspapers referred to the project as the "W.T.C. mosque." Mr. Shahzad had been arrested late on May 3 in the attempted Times Square bombing. The community board office began receiving "hundreds and hundreds" of angry calls, and e-mails from around the world, said its chairwoman, Julie Menin, some threatening enough that she requested riot police for the next meeting.

The organizers were shocked. Many supporters say that their failure to imagine the backlash left them ill prepared to defuse it.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to PR campaigns.

Tags: City Of Brass

This guest post is a short story by Wajahat Ali, reprinted with permission.

"I promise."

The young boy - ashamed, dishonored, and fearing the wrath of a vengeful, omnipotent Allah - promised his Pakistani immigrant father with conviction and resolve.

"I promise not to eat during my fast. I will only eat at maghrib, after the sun sets, with every other fasting Muslim."

This previous promise fell victim to a delectable and treacherous "M & M." Like Eve and her apple, the young boy discovered his "fall from grace" stuck to the inner linings of his Husky pants' pocket covered with a still edible chocolate-y goodness. His first attempt at fasting was hijacked by a stale, melted candy.

But, that was 2 days ago on the 27th of Ramadan. The blessed month - the young boy was taught - in which Muslims fast from eating, drinking, and being bad people, so Allah would be happy with them and forgive their sins and let them enter heaven and not go to Hell, where they would burn forever and ever and ever.

During the month of Ramadan, fasting Muslims were also forbidden from engaging in "adult activity" and "fornication" until sunset. The young boy asked his parents, "What does adult activity and for-nee-katyon mean? Is that what happens when men and women go to their rooms, lock the doors and it sounds like they're hurting each other? "

The parents, flushed with concerned, grave looks blindsided by a question they hoped to avoid till the boy was a teenager, sharply answered, "We'll tell you when you're older! Who taught you this word?"

"It's in the book you gave me about Ramadan."

The mother's eagle eyes honed in on the father, whose lowered head conceded a confession.

"Just - don't worry about that now. Tomorrow is the last day of Ramadan, and you will inshallah - God willing - do your first roza, right?" coached his mother.

"First successful roza," added his father both proud and hopeful. "Mashallah - what a big boy doing your first fast. So much sooner and younger than all the other boys! Everyone at the community iftar will be so proud of you."

"Be sure to tell the uncles and aunties you fasted," reminded his mother. "Then, they will give you more eidi money and presents on Eid. Except of course for Shabnam Aunty and Abdullah uncle - they are kanjoose makhi choos [Literal translation: Misers who suck more than a fly]. Never once have they given you eidi. We've given their 4 children eidi money on every Eid year after year..." and the young boy, accustomed to his mother's rants, stopped paying attention and ran upstairs to play his Nintendo.

Later that night, the father quietly entered the boy's room as the boy violently mashed his thumbs against the plastic game controller. The father smiled looking at the son. "What's so funny?" inquired the young boy. "Nothing" remarked the father.

"Beta, I want to give you this," said the father as he placed two crisp George Washingtons in his son's pudgy hands. "Is this my eidi already? But it's not even Eid yet! And last year, you gave me $10." The father smiled and calmly replied, "It's not your eidi, relax. Inshallah, you'll get more on Eid. Don't be greedy! I'm giving you $2 dollars now on one condition and one condition only: you promise me again not to eat during your fast tomorrow. After the sun sets, then you can eat iftar with all the other Muslims - only after sunset. If you complete the fast, I'll give you $5 at iftar."

"Whoa!" exclaimed the boy.

"Yes. 5 whole dollars just for you on top of this 2 dollar down payment. Ok? But, if you break your promise and eat like you did before, then, well, I will be very disappointed, beta. So, do you think you can do it? Think before promising. Remember, Allah knows all our intentions and thoughts. Can you make an honest promise?" questioned the father, still holding on to the green.

"I - I promise - this time I'll do it. I swear."

The father released the money, kissed the boy on the cheek - which prompted the boy to wipe the disgusting wetness off his face with left palm as per custom of all young boys. The father made his way for the door having successfully completed the contract. Just before leaving, the father put his hands in his khameez and remembered-

"Wait, beta. Here, I want you to have something." The father looked down at the furry item, and his eyes -if only for a moment - recalled a youth long since passed but not entirely forgotten.

"My father gave this to me when I was a boy your age- many, many years ago, beta. It reminds me of you. So, now it is yours." The father gave the young boy a small plush toy that looked like a white cow with two small horns.

"Why are you giving me a cow?" asked the boy.

"It's a bakra - a goat. It's zidee like you."

"What does zidee mean?"

"It means stubborn."

"What does stubborn mean?"

The father smiled, and before leaving, answered, "I'll tell you when you're older."

The boy examined the plush toy that wiggled around in his hands making a "whish" squishy sound when he pressed it. He tossed it aside and thought to himself, "Why do I get so hungry when I fast? I get so hungry especially towards the end. I'm always hungry" the young boy mused to himself, fearing tomorrow's impending dietary discipline. This piety exercise seemed unfair and almost cruel to the portly seven year old boy, whose famished innards played a vigorous game of pinball with his organs and growled like Chewbacca only 2 days ago during his initial aborted fasting attempt.

Praying to Allah as he nuzzled, comfortably, in bed underneath his Batman blankets, wearing his Spiderman pajamas and Incredible Hulk t-shirt, the boy earnestly pleaded:

"Dear Allah-mia, please let me not eat tomorrow until maghrib. I will try very hard, but you made me so hungry the last time I tried. So, please, Allah-mia, please help me fast so Ami and Abu don't get sad and mad at me. And, also, please give me lots of eidi and also Tecmo Super Bowl for Nintendo on Eid. I promise, promise, promise I'll be a better person and Muslim - so please don't let me go to hell. Ameen."

And so, on the last day of Ramadan, the young boy sat by himself swinging on the masjid's lopsided, downtrodden swing-set, that was independently constructed by the community's Muslim uncles for their American-born "youth." Across the street, a large ice cream cone was lit in front of Briar's Ice Creamery, which sold fudge twirl with "M & M" toppings on a sugar cone - the young boy's favorite.

The community's masjid, which in actuality was a rented senior center recreational facility, served as a "temporary" mosque until the "real" masjid was completed. The "mosque" smelled like Ben-gay curry and Vic's Vapor chai. The young boy's clogged sinuses and allergies always miraculously cleared up after a masjid visit.

The center's staff repeatedly asked the Muslim leaders, "Why are there pools of water by the sink in the restroom?" however, they never received an adequate answer. How could the uncles confess, let alone explain, the Islamic ritual of ablution, a quick water cleansing ritual where Muslims washed their face, arms, and feet three times before offering their daily prayers?

Instead, when asked this question week after week, Ganja uncle, aptly named for his shiny, bald head that resembled a brown Mr. Clean, simply pointed to Mota uncle, nodded his head, and said no more.

The scapegoat and martyr for the community's religious idiosyncrasies was Mota uncle: a morbidly obese, middle aged, nearly invalid Pakistani uncle who barely spoke English and always sat in the corner eating his wife's sweet, homemade halwa. When the young boy would grow older he would fondly recall Mota uncle's bright colored suspenders attached to his corduroy pants that he wore up to his chest like a Desi Santa Claus. His bellowing laugh consumed all other noises and sounds and reddened his face like the strawberry syrupy color of a Rooh Afza bottle. Mota uncle used to feed the young boy halwa, and then bless the boy by grazing the boy's head with his hands and saying, "Allah khush rakeh" - May Allah keep you content. The young boy always thought that Mota Uncle was much smarter than he appeared and secretly knew all along of Ganja uncle's deception; but, since he was a nice man, he kept quiet, played dumb, and ate his halwa. The young boy always liked Mota Uncle for that.

This was to be his last Ramadan.

"Brothers, brothers. Sisters, please. Please. Please stop talking. Please -" begged the thick, accented South Asian voice cracking the audio on the homemade speaker system. The young boy could recognize this distinctive voice even if he was deaf, blind and mute. Pakistani dari-wala uncle, aptly titled for his lengthy and scraggly beard that looked like curly Velcro stuck on his face with a Glue-stick, dominated the mosque's only megaphone pleading members to give "funds" and "donations" for "the unfinished community mosque project." Dari-wala uncle also always complained about "the brothers and sisters" who parked their cars illegally on the road or pavement and never in the rented parking lot. As the years eventually passed, the young boy never recalled seeing any cars parked in the lot - ever.

However, today, the dari-wala uncle kept requesting, in fact begging, that the shoes, jootas and chapals be placed outside the center, next to the door. The young boy saw nearly one hundred shoes inside the center - in front of the door.

The young boy, naturally shy and bored by the iftar preparations inside the hall, awkwardly sat on the deformed swing chair, uncomfortably squeezing his above average. "healthy" rear in the seat, and casually swinging back and forth waiting for maghrib. He could smell the kheema samosas made with ground beef, the deep fried, potato pakoras and the chicken tikka - no - wait - no. Ah yes, sorry, the lamb curry. Mmmm. The young boy's stomach started to jab and shimmy.

Meanwhile, the other boys played a make shift game of tag football, in which the bigger and older kids would always play the fun positions of QB, Running back and Wide receiver, forcing the younger kids to play the lame position of offensive line. Normally, the young boy would try to play - he was, naturally, the "center" on account of his "healthy" size - but today he recalled yet another promise he made earlier to his mother.

"Beta, for the last day of Ramadan, I want my shehzada to look like a handsome prince. Here, wear this brand new cream colored shalwar khameez your aunt bought you. It's from Pakistan and is 100% cotton! It is extra large on the account of your healthy size. Promise me you won't get this dirty or spill khana on it like you always do! Promise, ok?"

The young boy's daily meals could easily be ascertained by observing his t-shirt at the end of the day. Yesterday, the evidence alluded to a smudge of purple (peanut butter and jelly), a blotch of dark brown (chocolate milk), a yellow spot (mustard indicating a halal turkey sandwich), and some turmeric powder on his collar indicating a nourishing, authentic Pakistani salan or curry for dinner.

To honor this second promise, the young boy quietly swung on the set by his lonesome avoiding the dirt, grass and mud stains that could potentially be acquired by a harmless game of football.

The other Muslim boys had already made fun of him on account of his costume and called him "hella gay" for not wearing t-shirt and pants. The young boy retaliated, "I only wore this because my mom made me!"

This comment borne from ignorance and honesty, the young boy later learned, was a grave mistake - as it fueled the other boys' laughter and ridicule. In addition to being "hella gay" he was now also affectionately known as "mamma's boy" and "Jabba the Hut" on account of his "healthy size." His stomach now started throwing counters and hooks.

He fumbled around his shalwar khameez's one pocket and found the two crumpled and wrinkled George Washingtons. His plush toy goat, completely concealed in his pocket as to avoid mockery, served as his only companion. With one hand squeezing the goat, the young boy's other hand unraveled the green paper. He turned around and saw the Ice cream cone across the street - illuminated. The sun prepared for its daily retirement as the moon began rising for its nightly comeback. Within ten minutes, the sun would set, the last fast of Ramadan completed, and the community would eat iftar together, joyously awaiting the next day's Eid festivities.

The young boy shamefully entertained a wicked thought. His stomach threw a knockout combo and went down for the count.

The Adhan could be heard across the street - even at the ice cream store. The call to prayer announced maghrib, the daily prayer at sunset, commencing iftar - the opening of the fast. Throughout the day, Muslims practiced a spiritual discipline of moderation and restraint. That discipline died the moment the aluminum foil was removed from the pakora and samosa tray and the sweet dates were placed on the fasting tongues. Chaos, screaming children, garrulous women, hungry uncles, nonstop commotion, the hustle and bustle for food, the laying of mats preparing for prayer: another typical iftar thought the father spying the crowd for the young boy.

As the grease ridden plastic plates and date seeds accumulated in the black garbage bags, the father stepped out to find the young boy. His first inclination was to look on the field and ask the older boys who were playing football if they had seen a young boy in a shalwar khameez. The boys, upon remembering, again laughed. The father looked around, called the boy's name, and then saw the swing set that barely moved as if someone had recently abandoned it in haste.

The father approached the swing, saw no one, but heard a quiet whimpering from behind the tree. Nearing the tree, the father heard the whimper transformed into small sobbing noises reminding the father of his son's voice. Hiding, the father found a young boy, with his back turned, quietly crying. The father spun the boy around and saw his son.

The young boy, with tears streaming down his cheeks, held a half eaten, fudge twirl ice cream on a dripping sugar cone in his left hand while squeezing the plush toy in his right. Most of his mouth and chin, like his t-shirts, resembled a Pollack painting smeared with melted chocolate and vanilla ice cream, including pieces of "M &M" sugar coated shells stuck on his lips.

At that moment, it appeared the boy had only broken one of his promises.

And then - a drop of ice cream from the sugar cone fell on his khameez.

This short story by Wajahat Ali is reprinted with permission from Goatmilk blog. The story originally appeared in the anthology, POW-WOW (Da Capo Press, 2009). Wajahat Ali is a lawyer and a playwright; his play The Domestic Crusaders was first performed at the Nuyorican Theater in New York, and will be performed this coming November at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Domestic Crusaders will also be published by McSweeny's this fall.

Tags: City Of Brass

If all goes to plan, I'll be a guest on NPR Los Angeles' To The Point program this afternoon, hosted by Warren Olney. The topic will be "Religious Tolerance and the Mosque at Ground Zero". Should be fun.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the show. How did I do?

Tags: City Of Brass

This year, there's been more divergence than usual about the beginning of Ramadan, since the visibility of the moon has been very poor (especially in the Western Hemisphere). You can get a sense of the problem from calculated visibility maps which suggest that the moon would not be visible by naked eye for most of the world until Wednesday August 11 at the earliest; the website CrescentWatch reports that no reliable moon sightings have yet been received and advise Ramadan begin on Thursday August 12 (since any later than that would extend the previous month of Shaban to more than 30 days). Those of us who adhere to the lunar calendar approach have been fasting since Tuesday. Meanwhile, the majority of Arab states are beginning Ramadan today on Wednesday. Intriguingly, Egypt is experimenting this year with turning the clock back an hour, akin to Daylight Savings Time. That adds a whole new layer to the wrangling over Ramadan timekeeping!

As a result, Eid al-Fitr will probably be celebrated by muslims over a span of three days from September 9th to September 11th. I have a feeling that given the rise of Islamophobia in America of late, we are going to be seeing email forwards about "muslims celebrating on 9-11" as a result.

An interesting note - a new NGO known as Green Ramadan is going to promote the connection of Ramadan and environmentalism. You can find more information about Green Ramadan on Facebook (their website is still in development).

Related - my primer on the perennial moonsighting vs calendrical debate for determining the start (and end) of Ramadan. Also at Beliefnet there's a gallery of Ten Prayers for Ramadan and Ten Tips for Fasting Healthfully and Spiritually.

Tags: City Of Brass

The Anti-Defamation League has betrayed itself and its own principles, by coming out against the Park 51 project (which is still being characterized incorrectly as the "ground zero mosque"). Their press release (in full below) is even worse than the denunciation of the project by Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich, because they explicitly concede that the muslim community has the right to build - but they then argue that rights don't matter. This is an astonishing position for a civil rights organization to take, and one that undermines their own moral authority.

In response, Greg Sargent at the Washington Post notes,

The foes of this mosque whose opposition is rooted in bigotry are the ones who are trying to stoke victims' pain here, for transparent political purposes. Their opposition to this mosque appears to be all about insidiously linking the mosque builders with the 9/11 attackers, and by extension, to revive passions surrounding 9/11. To oppose the mosque is to capitulate to -- and validate -- this program.

On this one, you're either with the bigots or you're against them. And ADL has in effect sided with them.

I've long argued that the muslim community should seek to build a working relationship and make strategic common cause with the Jewish community, because of our shared experiences and civil rights concerns. But I was bitterly disappointed in the decision by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (Los Angeles) to screen The Third Jihad, a grotesquely Islamophobic film created solely to disseminate hatred towards muslims. And now it's clear that the ADL has no such interest in any universal application of their cause; they will only defend Jews from defamation and persecution. It's truly depressing that the ADL should need to be reminded of the famous words by Pastor Martin Niemoller,

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

We muslims should continue to speak up, in defense of ourselves and Jews and anyone else - in support of the very freedoms that drew us as immigrants to America, and which the terrorists sought to eradicate on 9-11.

Here's the ADL press release:

We regard freedom of religion as a cornerstone of the American democracy, and that freedom must include the right of all Americans - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faiths - to build community centers and houses of worship.

We categorically reject appeals to bigotry on the basis of religion, and condemn those whose opposition to this proposed Islamic Center is a manifestation of such bigotry.

However, there are understandably strong passions and keen sensitivities surrounding the World Trade Center site. We are ever mindful of the tragedy which befell our nation there, the pain we all still feel - and especially the anguish of the families and friends of those who were killed on September 11, 2001.

The controversy which has emerged regarding the building of an Islamic Center at this location is counterproductive to the healing process. Therefore, under these unique circumstances, we believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found.

In recommending that a different location be found for the Islamic Center, we are mindful that some legitimate questions have been raised about who is providing the funding to build it, and what connections, if any, its leaders might have with groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values. These questions deserve a response, and we hope those backing the project will be transparent and forthcoming. But regardless of how they respond, the issue at stake is a broader one.

Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong. But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain - unnecessarily - and that is not right.

Tags: City Of Brass

As promised earlier in the week, here are the interview questions and answers from Sharif el-Gamal, CEO of SoHo Properties and lead developer of the Park 51 project. I am sincerely grateful to Sharif for taking the time to answer these questions and speak directly to the broader Muslim community.

1. How will you use this center to promote good citizenship and American values? What are the specific American values you seek to promote?

Park51 will be a community center promoting tolerance and understanding through three types of programs: arts and culture, education and recreation. We'll offer all New Yorkers valuable services, world-class facilities and empowering opportunities to learn more about the world around us and about each other. What's more American than serving others?

Because New York City is a global city, and New Yorkers come from all parts of the world, we need the kind of community center that our economy and cultural diversity demand. It's about fulfilling a need, meeting demand and looking to the future. I think that's a very American attitude. I know it's something I believe in very much. If we do something, we want to be the best at it, and we're always looking ahead.

If you look at a map of Manhattan, most of our major cultural and community centers are north of Houston. For the past two decades, New York City has become an increasingly attractive place to live. That's a great thing for the city. But, for more people to move into lower Manhattan, they have to have the right services. That's our contribution to Manhattan and the city. By serving all types of New Yorkers, we're doing our part as Americans to make our city and country stronger and safer.

2. Why must the project necessarily include a mosque? Wouldn't a general prayer area, which could be reserved in advance by any religious group, be more appropriate and compatible with the community-centric interfaith mission of the project?

We will include a September 11th memorial and quiet reflection space where people of different faith traditions and beliefs, sacred and secular, can find quiet time and solace. Park51 will also include general spaces and world-class facilities for all New Yorkers to benefit from, whether that's a Hebrew class meeting weekly or a yoga studio looking for space on a regular basis. We'll have an auditorium to engage large audiences, and sophisticated classroom space as well.

With respect to the mosque, which will take up only a small portion of the final space, it's a question of meeting a need. This mosque will be open to all. There are probably one million Muslims in the tri-state area and several hundred thousand in New York City. We should understand that Muslim New Yorkers are part of the city and have been for a very long time. Just a few days ago, I stopped to pray at a midtown mosque, and the congregation was led by a New York City Police Officer. He was a Muslim serving our city, keeping us safe.

There's hundreds of thousands of Muslim New Yorkers like him. We're doctors, lawyers, businessmen, cab drivers, teachers and students. That's what people need to know.

3. Some of Imam Feisal's past statements [1,2] have been used by critics to undermine the project's credibility. Can Imam Feisal clarify his views on terrorism to reassure New Yorkers he understands the moral weight of the tragedy of 9-11?

Imam Feisal has been a champion of pluralism and tolerance. He fully understands the enormity of 9-11. In fact his own congregation was only blocks away from Ground Zero. He works very hard, day in and day out, to fight extremism and radicalism.

More to the point, this is going to be a community center. Park51 is not a political organization. We do not have a political agenda, and we will be open to all New Yorkers. What we do not have room for are extremist views and opinions. Radical and hateful agendas will have no place in our community center or in the mosque. We are building this center for New York City, because we're New Yorkers. We're Americans. We have families here and futures here.

On September 11, 2001, I went down to the site of the attacks and spent two days handing out water to first responders and other victims. Hundreds of Muslims died on that day. New Yorkers of all faiths and no faiths died together. There are also hundreds of Muslims in our police force and fire department and many Muslims who volunteered to help the injured and the hurt. One of my close friends, a Muslim and a New Yorker, headed down to Ground Zero after the attacks, and helped set up a triage.

She was buried in the rubble when the towers collapsed, but she was dug out, thank God, and went right back to work. We understand the horror of that day because we lived it. Terrorists attacked our city and our country, and terrorists have continued to threaten our city and our country. We're proud of the many Muslims who have worked with our fellow Americans to keep our city and country safe.

4. What are Imam Feisal's specific roles and responsibilities in the project? If he is not in a leadership/executive position, then who is really "in charge" and making the decisions?

Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf is as an interfaith leader and a visionary in this project. He has served the lower Manhattan community faithfully for over 27 years. He is supported by political and religious leaders across New York City for his commitment to moderation and tolerance and his years of work in bringing people together.

Park51 is an independent project led by Muslim Americans. This project will be separate from The Cordoba Initiative and ASMA. The next step is forming a non-profit and applying for tax-exempt status. Imam Feisal and I are serving as the project managers until then. This non-profit will be run by an Executive Director, yet to be selected, support staff, and a 23-member Board of Directors.
Imam Feisal will be one of the Directors, and will oversee the Cordoba House, which will direct the interfaith programming within Park51.. We have not yet selected the other members of the Board of Directors, but we will be picking people very carefully, based on their record of leadership, relevant experience and positive contribution to New York City and the country. The board will not be limited by religion.

The mosque will be run by a separate non-profit whose Board of Directors will reflect a broad range of experience. While the mosque will be located in the planned final structure of Park51, it will be a distinct non-profit. Neither Park51 nor the mosque, which hasn't been named yet, will tolerate any kind of illegal or un-American activity and rhetoric.

5. Will you pledge make all funding sources fully transparent? What are your criteria for accepting funding from a foreign source, to assuage concerns about extremist influences?

We have not yet launched our fundraising campaign. Park51 will incorporate as a non-profit and seek federal tax-exempt status. We are pledging to pursue this fundraising campaign in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. We have hired legal counsel and top-notch auditors to oversee this process from start to finish.

We will hire security consultants to assist us in the process of reviewing potential financiers and philanthropists as we begin to establish our fundraising strategy. We will refuse assistance, financial or otherwise, from any persons or institutions who are flagged by our security consultants or any government agencies.

6. Why was the site's proximity to Ground Zero considered a "selling point" [3] ? What other locations in lower Manhattan, if any, were considered that could serve the same purpose?

We are not at Ground Zero. In fact we're as close to City Hall as we are to Ground Zero. Lower Manhattan is pretty small. You can't see Ground Zero from our current building and on completion of our planned building some years from now, there won't be any views of the Ground Zero memorial from the building. To honor those who were killed on September 11th, we have planned for a public memorial within our future facility as well as reflection space open to all.

Let me tell you a little bit about the history of this project. We'd been looking for at least seven years to find a space to accommodate the growing population of Muslims in lower Manhattan. We found this site in January of 2006 and getting to the finish line and acquiring the real estate was proof that persistence pays off. We had also been eager to contribute to the revitalization of lower Manhattan, in part because this is our area of business and also because as New Yorkers we wanted to give back to our city and help make it a better place to live.

Prior to purchasing our current facility at 45 Park Place, there were two mosques in lower Manhattan - although Park51 is not affiliated with either of these mosques. One was Masjid Farah, which could fit a maximum of approximately 65 people, and had to hold three or four separate prayer services on Fridays just to fit the crowds.

The second mosque, at Warren St., accommodated about 1,500 worshippers during Friday prayers - people had been praying on sidewalks because they had no room. They lost their space around May 2009. We made the move to buy 45 Park Place in July 2009 in part to offset the loss of this space. Currently, our space at 45 Park Place, accommodates around 450 people every Friday. We are also easily accessible from many different parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, which was an important consideration.

At the same time, we thought, why not give back to lower Manhattan and fulfill a pressing need? We looked for a building that could grow into a community center. In Lower Manhattan, the biggest community center is at Bowery and Houston and it's in a basement. There are new residential towers going up in lower Manhattan as we speak. Four Seasons is planning the tallest residential tower in the city a block away from our site. If you think of all of the community centers in Manhattan, they are further north. Residents need services, investment in the neighborhood, activities and opportunities. Community Board 1, which represents the residents of lower Manhattan, acknowledged the needs we were fulfilling when they gave us their clear support on two separate occasions.

7. Do you concede there are genuine, valid concerns about this project which are not derived from Islamophobia or racism? What do you think those concerns are and how would you respond to them?

In a recent poll, even New Yorkers with a favorable opinion of Islam had reservations about the project. People have real questions and we need to work hard to make sure we get them answers, and that's not going to happen overnight. We're going to make sure our fundraising and planning involves people from across the city and we're going to make sure we do so in a way that hears concerns and responds to them.

Unfortunately, the public meetings we had with Community Board 1 and the Landmarks Committee were overtaken by a minority who prevented people from expressing their real concerns. The meetings turned into public spectacles. We're now looking for ways to engage our fellow New Yorkers and fellow Americans and have extended an open invitation to anyone concerned to come visit our space. They'll see we have a warm community that reflects the diversity of this country, and they'll see that we want to build Park51 so it has something for everyone.

I can't say this often enough. We work in lower Manhattan, we care about lower Manhattan and we're here to provide services to lower Manhattan.

8. How do you respond to a recent Quinnipiac poll [4] showing a majority (52%) of New Yorkers actively oppose the project? What would you say to the 17% undecided New Yorkers to try and persuade them?

The same poll shows that a majority of Manhattan is behind us. Community Board 1 is overwhelmingly behind us, and they represent the people of lower Manhattan who are closest to Park51 and would be most relevant to our vision. They are the people of lower Manhattan. They've studied our project closely, they learned about who we are and they live in the area we hope to serve. They were clear in their support for us, and we're tremendously grateful for that.

The Board recognized the value in jobs, programs and services we are bringing to the city, and they know that this project is very important for lower Manhattan. That's a major reason why Borough President Scott Stringer, Mayor Bloomberg, Councilwoman Chin and Councilman Jackson, City Comptroller Liu, Attorney General Cuomo, State Senator Squadron, U.S. Congressman Nadler, Governor Paterson a number of key officials and institutions are supporting us. We're also pleased to have the support of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. These leaders and organizations know Imam Feisal has served Lower Manhattan for a long time, and that he has been a positive force in this city and country.

But we need to do more to reach out to the undecided New Yorkers, the New Yorkers who have only heard misrepresentations about Park51, and other Americans in other parts of our country. I think that as more information comes out about the project, and more people learn about who we are and how we want to help New York City, we'll see these numbers change.

I want people in New York who are undecided to know we're a part of this city, and we want to make it a better place to live and work. We want to help stimulate our economy, and enhance New York's position as a global hub of ideas and culture.

9. How do you make the case for supporting Park 51 to the local Muslim American community? Doesn't Park 51 undermine support for (and even actively harm) more pragmatic mosque projects in Sheepshead Bay and Staten Island?

We're not affiliated with either of those projects, but we do recognize that this project affects people from all over the world. New York City is the capital city of the world. I'm pretty sure New York City also has the largest Muslim population of any city in the United States. Muslim New Yorkers need to do more to become part of the institutions and organizations that serve and contribute to this city. We believe Park51 will be a positive step in this direction.

I believe that our model represents the best of American and Muslim values. More people need to know the truth about Islam, and that's that Islam is a peaceful religion, a compassionate religion, which preaches service to all. Unfortunately, there is some opposition to Muslim projects which is driven by hate and negativity, and we should be concerned by this.

Because hate for one minority can become hate for anyone who's different, and New Yorkers, like Americans, understand the value of diversity and the importance of protecting difference. That's what makes America so dynamic and so unique.

10. The controversy has alienated many Americans and New Yorkers who are tolerant of Islam per se but viscerally react to the project with offense. In hindsight, what could you have done differently to avoid this reaction?

My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones. We were all attacked that day, no matter what our color or our religion. I understand that people are offended, but we cannot lose sight of why we are doing this. And we cannot forget that we are a part of this city, a major part of this city, and we need to work together as Americans and as New Yorkers.

Moving forward, I hope and pray the dialogue reaches more New Yorkers and Americans. People have concerns and questions, and we want to answer them in a meaningful way, in a way that lets people know who we really are, what we want to do for the city and how they can be a part of Park51.
We have to appeal to the undecided, and change the conversation about Muslims in America. Because of that, we're offering an open door. You know, I'd love it if Sarah Palin came to Park51 to see our community.

She'd see that we're just as American as she is. She'd get the chance to meet some of her fellow citizens who happen to be Muslims. Consider that an open invitation, Mrs. Palin. We'd love to see you. We want to welcome everybody who cares about this city and about this country.

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My sincere thanks to Sharif el Gamal for taking the time to answer these pointed questions in such detail. Related commentary: as one New Yorker notes, this is really something for New Yorkers to decide alone. What Sarah Palin or other non-NYCers think isn't really relevant. Also, it should be noted that Islam has a long history in lower Manhattan. And fundamentally, this project embodies the very same American values that those who attacked us on 9-11 sought to deny.

Tags: City Of Brass

Lost in all the noise and recrimination of modern Islamophobia about mosques and minarets and burkas and whatnot, is the simple fact that the vast majority of muslims, jews and christians are neighbors, and members of the same civic fabric, and act accordingly towards common interests. Case in point:

A project to transform a derelict church has received a £52,000 donation - from the mosque across the road.

The money will be used to fund the restoration of the former United Reformed Church on Stockport Road in a bid to create Levenshulme Inspire, a multi-use community centre.

Bohra Mosque, which opened two years ago as Manchester's first eco- mosque, made the donation - and religious leaders hope the money will be used to help community and symbolize successful inter-faith relationships in Levenshulme.

Dr Mustafa Abdulhussein, trustee at the Bohra mosque said: "Levenshulme Inspire promises to be the most beneficial project in decades for the youth of the area and certainly deserves the support it has got.

"I am sure it will be a huge asset to Levenshulme and the mosque is pleased to contribute to it."

Levenshulme Inspire, which will contain apartments, office and worship space, community rooms and a cafe, is due to open in October.

It aims to become the heart of Levenshulme's community while helping the most disadvantaged people in the area.

I am incidentally very proud to call Mustafa Abdulhussein a dear personal friend of mine for many years.

UPDATE: and here's a wealthy Jewish philanthropist building a mosque.

Tags: City Of Brass