Because every one else is offering their opinion about the Cordoba Mosque - The 911 Mosque

I have been reading a lot of blogs where people offer their opinion of the possible new mosque in Manhattan. I guess it's my turn to do the same thing.


I don't have a problem with a community center or even a massive mosque being built any where. Although I don't quite understand why they are building a third mosque in an area that is already well served by the two mosques a few blocks away. I am also uncomfortable with the people running the project. I have a concern about the couple running the project Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife, with the group doing fund raising for the project. I don't consider them to be honest people
Park 51 The Cordoba Project


My reasons are as follows.

- Cordoba is a loaded word. For us it means an area of Europe (Spain mostly) that were ruled by an Islamic caliphate. For Muslims it is a word that means conquest. Conquest of the world. Now I know the myth of Cordoba is a strong one. That it was a time and place where all three major religions co-existed peacefully. It's wrong, a total and complete myth.

- I question where the funds to build this project are coming from. I am pretty certain there are no Jewish or Wiccan groups on the list of terrorist organizations. While the Catholic church does have some questionable issues, I do not believe the Pope has suggested a separate legal system be set up for Catholics. Feisal A. Rauf has not only said he thinks there should be a separate court system but a separate banking system. One that would be on equal footing with the U.S. court system. A process that has worked out so well for England (p.s. - sarcasm)

- The Imam who is leading the project Feisal Abdul Rauf is on his way to the middle east to do an outreach tour. Paid for by the U.S. government. He claims to be for religious tolerance, when he is speaking English. Well except for the many times he has refused to attend interfaith events in Manhattan. He does not believe in interfaith. He wrote a book about Islam that suggests America should set up a separate court system for Muslims, a separate banking system and allow Muslims to live in areas that followed Muslim Sharia laws. Laws like women wearing head veils, no dogs allowed, no religions other than Islam. I have written in the past about interactions I have had with members of Revere's Islamic community. A request that I not enter the elevator with Byron when one of the buildings Islamic residents are in the elevator already. I have been chased out of the local informal dog park on the beach by people who did not want to share the grass with my dog.

Lets see what else. He considered the U.S. an accessory to the 9/11 terror attacks, saying in effect the people who died that day died not as innocents, but as responsible for the bad decisions made by our government. He refuses to call Hamas a terrorist organization.

The book he wrote we know as What's Right with Islam: a New Vision for Muslims and the West (HarperCollins, 2004) (An Indonesian language edition was published in 2007, titled Seruan Azan Dari Puing WTC: Dakwah Islam di Jantung Amerika Pasca 9/11, which translates as A Call to Prayer from the WTC Rubble: Islamic Dawah from the Heart of America Post 911. In conversion to Islam



So, yes I am a bit biased. Biased because of my interaction with my neighbors. Biased because I am never getting my friends back. Biased because I wrote over half this blog post in tears.