In the days after September 11, 2001, Zoe Haskell, a ten-year-old student at Woodland Star Charter School in my home town of Sonoma, had the idea to "adopt" a child who'd lost a parent in the attack on the World Trade Center. She discussed it with her mother, then took it to her school to rally the support of her classmates and teacher. Their efforts got the attention of Mayor Ken Brown and other community leaders and led to the set-up of a non-profit foundation, Our American Family, with the mission to offer financial and emotional support to the family of one of the victims.
Our American Family reached out to contacts in New York City to find a family that needed and would accept their assistance. The family referred to them was that of Mansura Shahjahan, widow of Mohammed Shahjahan, an IT specialist working for Marsh & McLennan on the 93rd floor of the North Tower, and her four children Yusuf, Shirin, Jahnan and Layla, all between the ages of four and eight.
The fact that the Shahjahan family were Muslims caused a minor shock wave in our little California community. There was buzz around town that at least one of the leaders of the effort wanted to reject the Shahjahans and find another family to help, one that better fitted her idea of real Americans. That provoked a general outcry in our community against the prejudice that would renege on a promise made to a grieving family for no other reason than their religion. The upshot was that Our American Family denied that anyone had proposed not to adopt the Shahjahans and agreed to look for a second, presumably non-Muslim, family to help as well.
This incident came back to my mind the other day as I was considering whether and how I might join the national conversation about the Non-Mosque Neither At Nor Visible From Ground Zero, that is, the proposed Muslim-American ecumenical community center to be located at 51 Park Place, two blocks north and around the corner from the WTC site, not far from Masjid Manhattan, an actual mosque which has been serving the Muslim community of lower Manhattan since 1970 without provoking noticeable anguish or suffering on the part of Manhattanites in general or 9/11 survivors in particular.
This national conversation has gone through several stages over the summer, from utter non-controversy over months of preparation for the construction of the center on the site of an abandoned clothing store, to the obscure alarmist blatherings of an arguably deranged blogger, which were picked up by the right-wing media noise machine and Republican politicians in full cry, answered with a mostly timid and tepid response from moderate media and Democratic pols, and culminating last weekend in President's Obama's affirmation of Americans' right to the free exercise of religion.
In the current stage of the conversation, the opposition has mostly backed away from their insistence that the government should intervene to prevent the community center from opening, and instead adopted what they characterize as a reasonable appeal to the sensitivity of the American Muslim community to consider the feelings of non-Muslim Americans and victims of the 9/11 attack, to not defile sacred ground with a center that includes a room for Islamic prayers -- they should consider another site at some vague and unspecified more distant remove.
This argument is a canard.
From the beginning, this controversy has been manufactured, like so many other of the unfounded conspiracy theories that have masqueraded as political issues over the last two years -- "Barack Obama isn't really an American", "healthcare reform is a plot to kill old people", "racist blacks are denying government services to white people" -- with a single purpose: to foment and exploit fear, hatred and ignorance to the political advantage of the Republican party.
If you look at the foundations of this controversy, there's nothing there. The proposed center at 51 Park Place isn't a mosque, it isn't at Ground Zero, actual mosques in lower Manhattan have not caused needless additional suffering to survivors of 9/11. At the Pentagon, which also was subject to a devastating attack on 9/11, which is no more or less "sacred" than the WTC site, the reconstruction included a Muslim prayer center which has served the religious needs of Islamic-American servicewomen, servicemen and civilian officials for years with no reports of psychological or emotional damage to survivors of the 2001 attack.
No reasonable argument has been offered to support the abrogation of the most fundamental, and yes sacred, freedom among those that are the birthright of every American, the freedom to believe and to exercise that belief without interference from government at any level. The call to consider the sensitivities of those who would blame all Muslims, including loyal Muslim Americans, for the crimes of a handful is no appeal to reason, but to emotion, and to the most negative and destructive of emotions -- fear, hatred, prejudice.
Yes, "the heart has reasons which reason knows nothing of". The grief of loss, of wrongs deeply felt, desolation, bitterness, sorrow, despair, these are powerful "reasons" that weigh as strongly, more strongly to those who experience them, as the rigors of logic and argument. I lost no-one on that terrible day, though I have friends that did. I won't presume to speak for them, nor for any of those who suffered that day, and I don't judge their feelings, even if those feelings have led them to blame any who share the faith professed by the 9/11 terrorists. But those others who feed their fears and encourage them down the path of hatred do them and all of us a terrible disservice.
Among the dead in the ashes of the twin towers were hundreds of Muslims, who left thousands of grieving parents, children, sisters, brothers, spouses, lovers, friends. Are their feelings somehow not as poignant, their spiritual aspirations not as valid, their sensitivities not as worthy of consideration as those of other faiths or no faith? Are they less American than Americans who worship the God of Abraham from a different text? Would their prayers defile an otherwise sacred space?
Do the claims on our understanding and compassion by the children and widow of Mohammed Shahjahan count for nothing against the claims on our prejudices by Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and their fellow travelers?
If so, we've allowed the terrorists to take so much more from us than what they managed to destroy on that terrible day in September.
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Comments
A compassionate, persuasive argument, intelligent and insightful...
I agree that this is a "manufactured" controversy. It's infuriating. The politicians ignore facts in favor of pacifying their base. The base gets all their information from a media skilled in manipulating their fears.
It's good to see the photo of Mohammed Shajahan & to recognize the Muslims who were also killed in the Towers & the families left to grieve. I cannot imagine losing a husband in that attack, only to, in turn, be attacked by other Americans. It's crazy!
Excellent post! If I can figure out how to embed (if that's the word) or copy it, I will pass it on. I'm not sure the guy worried about the sheep in the World Trade Center will appreciate it, but it might get through to someone else.
Lower Manhattan, like the United States, is a melting pot of races, religions, origins, customs, and cultures. I sincerely hope that bigots do not take over the island or the country. I feel bad for Jesus Christ and Mohamed, their beliefs have been mostly discarded, while their names are used to foment hatred.
Beautifully and respectfully expressed. It is truly frightening to see the rise in blind emotion in this country.
The ignorant hatefulness has got to stop. I feel a little better, and a little less alone in spirit when I read something as compassionate as this. Thanks for that too.
Good post, Roy.
Those making a controversy forget another 9/11 - 1973, when US forces overthrew a democratically elected regime in South America, re-instate a dictatorship, and killed more than 4000 dissidents - also them fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Why not make a plaque of that killing to warn the US public of how bad things can get?
Those making a controversy forget another 9/11 - 1973, when US forces overthrew a democratically elected regime in South America, re-instate a dictatorship, and killed more than 4000 dissidents - also them fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Why not make a plaque of that killing to warn the US public of how bad things can get?
Rated
No coat factory workers were displaced. It's a store location. Aside from that inaccuracy I loved this.
Sue May
This is so true. I keep thinking about how the terrorists thought they were destroying America when the towers went down, and how, when I see the hatred sowed amongst us, sometimes I think they won. Thank you for giving voice to those of us who believe in the right of people to worship peacefully.
The phony controversy is you saying that this is about freedom of religion when it's really about good or bad judgment on the part of the developer.
BTW - if it is not a Mosque then why are you still preaching First Amendment?
This argument about this building is different from the interment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. "that they have done nothing YET is ominous in and of itself" - wasn't that one of the justifications floated for this imprisonment? The real reason, of course, is that some people got together and decided the Japanese were just too 'other' to be trusted not to rise up in a sort of Pearl Harbor, part 2, and kill us in our beds. After all, they bombed us -that proves that they other, other enough to be dangerous to us.
It is quite ironic that this argument, which is profoundly unAmerican, is being justified by people who claim to want to protect America. In this case, of course, it is America that is the red herring, for anyone wishing to keep others from having the same liberties and freedoms they themselves enjoy is not at all focused on protecting something as lofty as rights, but only in protecting themselves and, beyond that, others they approve of, who are of course likely to look like them and believe the same things they believe.
Imagine if the Founders had taken this "if you don't think like me you're wrong" approach to the Constitution. Would have made the Declaration of Independence the world's biggest inside joke.
there are too many of you for me to respond to each individually, but some have inspired or deserve individual acknowledgment or reply
suzie and any others who want to spread this around, please do, as all of you know it's gratifying to reach a large audience
patricia k, the republicans of today bear little resemblance to the responsibly conservative party I remember when I was becoming politically aware during the Eisenhower adminstration, even Nixon whom we "loved to hate" took seriously the responsibility of governing in what he perceived as the best course for the country, in retrospect he was more progressive in his domestic policies than any president, Dem or GOP, up to Obama, the whole country took a 90-degree right turn with the election of Reagan, and the Republicans dove right off the deep end
shiral, I expect the center will do the neighborhood and the city a lot of good if it gets built, until this phony controversy was ginned up, they had the support of religious leaders of all faiths, as well as 9/11 survivor families, I'd expect it to be a more fitting and healing remembrance than the commercial monstrosity being planned for the actual ground zero
knuthf, yes, lest we forget that atrocity of 9/11/73 done in our name and the decades of suffering it created for a whole nation
Nikki, thanks, your thoughts and feelings mean a lot to me on this issue, you've been on my mind during this whole brouhaha
OEsheepdog, thanks for the correction, I've edited the piece to reflect that Burlington Coat Factory was a clothing store, not an actual factory
f_l_wanderer, in so many ways the reaction of the US has been a success for bin Laden perhaps beyond his wildest dreams, the invasion of Iraq, the hardening of support for the worst injustices inflicted on the Palestinians, the drain of our wealth and strength in pointless wars, the torture and false imprisonment of innocents, the anti-Muslim frenzy encouraged by leading journalists and politicans, we are becoming much of what bin Laden tells the world we are, and that can only hurt us
Justice 786, thanks for your service and your support
Blackcloud, wow -- maybe you can tell me what a Muslim looks like, I thought they came in all sizes and colors, like the rest of us;
No, the Shahjahan family aren't my "buddies", my only connection to them is that they were adopted as humanitarian gesture by caring people in my home town and I knew the story and knew that there were many like them, who suffered grievously at the hands of terrorists, who deserve as much consideration as any others victims of that terrorist attack, how about asking your 10 Muslim friends whether they agree that they're as human as any other innocent American victims?
you know as well as I do that this story is being pitched by Muslim-baiters as a battle in a religious war, it's disingenuous at best and maliciously hypocritical at worst for you to attack me and others for urging compassion, judgment and adherence to American standards of justice and liberty in this matter
sandra, I agree at root it's always about the other, the rightwing in America has thrived on manipulating fear, hatred and ignorance for political advantage since the Alien and Sedition Acts two centuries ago, Jews, Irish, Italians, Chinese, freed black slaves don't work as boogeymen as well as they used to, communism collapsed on its own, and now even gays are being widely accepted, the Muslim as terrorist is the best target of opportunity these days and they're milking it for everything they can get
A native New Yorker, I, like another poster, have had former acquaintances email or FaceBook me the emails circulating on this "desecration" of the memories.
I'm happy to say, they all have blocked access to me through any means, and I will miss them not one whit.
-R-
The only "real" position to honor is yours, all others are Islamophobes. Wow.
"it's disingenuous at best and maliciously hypocritical at worst for you to attack me and others for urging compassion, judgment and adherence to American standards of justice and liberty in this matter"
That's funny Roy - I AM urging compassion, judgment and adherence to American standards (of decency) but from the developers of Cordoba House (original name a reference to the Islamic conquest of the Christian city of Córdoba). Where I come from respect is a two way street.
If I listen to your specious argument that it is not a Mosque then I am free to oppose it purely on emotional grounds without the over-ruling commitment I felt for the First Amendment. But it is a Mosque and even though I think it a bad idea they have a right to build it.
BTW - My statement about your "buddies" was a sarcastic reference to your feeble attempt to connect yourself to something Muslim to give the reader the impression that you understand the Muslim viewpoint - you don't.
the 60-70% of Americans who "see the placement of the mosque[sic] as provocative" have been led to that position through a concerted and ongoing propaganda campaign founded on lies and distortion, including the omnipresent graphic depicting a NY skyline dominated by a golden dome, when the location is in fact a typical nondescript downtown NY building invisible from Ground Zero, if the public were asked whether they found an ecumenical community center modeled on the YMCA or JCC in the neighborhood but unconnected to and invisible from Ground Zero, I doubt that more than single digits would describe it as provocative
I don't know who you mean by my "followers" and I can't speak for them, but for myself, where in my essay do I "dismiss" discussions among those who have been led by the emergence of this phony controversy to seek reconciliation through negotiations and proposed compromise? What I denounce (dismiss is not a strong enough word in this context) are the lies and those who knowingly propagate them
within the last news cycle, cable "news reports" have referred to this center as a terrorist command center and a triumphalist monument to the Islamic conquest of NYC, while opining that if only the developers would be reasonable enough to move it, then there'd be no problem with it, are you really suggesting that anyone should take that seriously?
Sarah and Newt have placed themselves at the forefront of this controversy and are among the worst of the propagandists, if I kick them it's because they've teed themselves up for it, you know that as well as I do
My essay is an attempt to encourage compassion for all the victims of 9/11, my criticism isn't of those who are genuinely fearful and aggrieved, but of those who cynically engender fear, encourage hatred and seek personal and political advantage from them
you're the textbook example of an Internet troll, and I for one see no reason to respond or acknowledge you again
I was reading an article on Salon the other day and clicked on a link to this site, read some Blogs and decided to register and respond - I thought that was the whole point, free trade of ideas and such. Unless of course only people who agree with you are allowed to register. (If that is the case they should state that on the registration page.)
A lot of thin skinned people on this site who have a hard time defending their position when challenged.
I guess the only people that you will respond to are the ones that tell you how smart you are and how you have great insights - sorry to disappoint.
(from Wikipedia)
The building of the mosque near Ground Zero was criticized by some other Muslims.
One was Sufi Muslim mystic Suleiman Schwartz, Executive Director of a Washington, DC non-profit organization, the Center for Islamic Pluralism. He said that building the mosque barely two blocks from Ground Zero is inconsistent with the Sufi philosophy of simplicity of faith and sensitivity towards others, and "grossly insensitive."[28]
Another founding member of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, Zuhdi Jasser, who is also the founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a group of Muslim professionals in the Phoenix Valley of Arizona, strongly opposed the mosque, saying:
For us, a mosque was always a place to pray...—not a way to make an ostentatious architectural statement. Ground Zero shouldn’t be about promoting Islam. It’s the place where war was declared on us as Americans."[28]
Neda Bolourchi, a Muslim whose mother died in 9/11, said: "I fear it would become a symbol of victory for militant Muslims around the world."[121]
Authors Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah, board members of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said:
We Muslims know the ... mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation, to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith, ... as "Fitna," meaning "mischief-making" that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.... As Muslims we are dismayed that our co-religionists have such little consideration for their fellow citizens, and wish to rub salt in their wounds and pretend they are applying a balm to sooth the pain.[122]
Hossein Kamaly, Term Assistant Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College, Columbia University, observed:
After all, it was 19 Egyptian and Saudi Arabian thugs calling themselves Muslims who perpetrated this heinous crime on September 11th. They want to send a message of friendship, but building a mosque where there wasn't one before, is not the most nuanced way of doing that.[123]
Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, while noting that blaming all Muslims for 9/11 was "ridiculous", said:
I don't think the Muslim leadership has fully appreciated the impact of 9/11 on America. They assume Americans have forgotten 9/11 and even, in a profound way, forgiven 9/11, and that has not happened. The wounds remain largely open [...] and when wounds are raw, an episode like constructing a house of worship—even one protected by the Constitution, protected by law—becomes like salt in the wounds.[124]
He goes on to say that, in his opinion, if the center is constructed as well as a mosque it should contain a memorial and an ecumenical house of worship.[125]
ABC News - "Sometimes misidentified as the "Pentagon Mosque," the non-denominational Pentagon Memorial Chapel maintained by the Pentagon Chaplain's Office is where department employees who practice Islam can meet to pray.
Located at the site where the hijacked American Airlines flight 77 struck the Defense Department headquarters, the chapel honors the memory of the 184 victims of the 9/11 attack. The 100-seat chapel is available to Pentagon employees of all faiths to come in prayer as they wish throughout the day."
I don't think anyone would have any qualms with a non-denominational prayer center even at the twin towers site.
Cordoba has been around for well over 2000 years. It was a Carthagenian settlement, conquered by the Romans in 260 BCE. For the next 500 years it was a pagan Roman city, and then a Byzantine Christian city for nearly 300 years. In 711, it was conquered by the Muslims and became, first, a provincial capital of the Caliphate of Damascus, and later the capital of the independent caliphate of Al-Andalus.
As a Muslim city during the height of the caliphate, Cordoba had a population of nearly half a million. It housed the greatest library of the western world.
In addition, the caliphate of Al-Andalus is most famous for being one of the more pluralistic and enlightened governments of the day. Jews, Muslims and Christians all maintained communities and were, by all historical accounts incredibly integrated. Though non-Muslims paid a tax as "dhimmis" (montheist non-Muslims), they were also exempt from military service.
I'd say it wasn't a "paradise" as some "smoke-blowing" revisionists would have it, but Al-Andalus was certainly no worse than other Medieval kingdoms, such as that of Charlemagne, of whom the reports have it that in a single day of his 30 year campaign to convert the Saxons to Christianity, 4,500 "pagan" Saxons were slaughtered for refusing to become Christian.
Cordoba's great contribution to the world was in Philosphy, perhaps. Birthplace of the revered Maimonides and the equally brilliant Averroes, Cordoba was a philosophical center of the Middle Ages, and these two philosophers...one a Muslim, one a Jew, were largely responsible for the resurrection and preservation of Aristotelian thought in the west, in an age in which Christian governments discouraged the study of pagan works. Among the other greats, who read Maimonides was Thomas Aquinas.
The symbolism of Cordoba is that of a philosophical syncretism, a cultural amalgam...a coming together of great cultures. The symbolism of Cordoba is perhaps as mythic as that of Lincoln the railsplitter, and Washington the "new Cincinnatus". It is meant well, but does not lack a bit of a clumsy touch.
I'd encourage you to make a post about the subject, it'll attract more attention than this played out comment thread
Very good points. I admit I may have jumped at the negative connotation of the Cordoba Mosque (which was built over the site of the Church of St Vincent) as have a variety of other people.
At another place and time I think people could have seen the wisdom of this Imam in choosing that name particularly with his stated effort for outreach - unfortunately, with the wounds of 9/11 still raw, I think, the name and the Mosque are a bad idea for that location.
Roy, sorry didn't mean to offend but by your own admission it is an emotional issue.