Here where it says (in part):
NationNewsAgency — May 12, 2010 — A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive.
The 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center was unanimously endorsed by the 12-member Community Board 1′s financial district committee.
The $100 million project, called the Cordoba House, is proposed for the old Burlington Coat Factory building at Park Place and Broadway, just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
I think it will be a wonderful asset to the community, said committee Chairman Ro Sheffe.
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who helped found the Cordoba Initiative following the 9/11 attacks, said the project is intended to foster better relations between the West and Muslims.
He said the glass-and-steel building would include a 500-seat performing arts venue, a swimming pool and a basketball court. Theres nothing like it, said Rauf, adding that facilities will be open to all New Yorkers.
Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and a member of the Cordoba Initiatives board, said donations are being sought to pay for the construction.
Khan said the project has received little opposition.
Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community, Khan said.
Khan said her group hopes construction on the project will begin by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks...[...]
To read that attached news story, you may think a mosque at ground Zero is a done deal. No, it is NOT!
Many are speaking out against the very idea of a centre that promotes Islam in the neighbourhood that saw Islamic terrorists murder almost 3,000 American and international citizens.
There is a petition sponsored by The Bravest.Com:
STOP THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE!!!
PLEASE HELP US STOP THIS TRAVESTY...READ ON...
Dear 9/11 Family Members, 9/11 Survivors, First Responders and Friends:
As you may have heard, plans have been announced to build a mega-mosque and cultural center at 45 Park Place, just 600 feet from the footprint of the north tower at the World Trade Center site. The building housed the Burlington Coat Factory, which was reportedly damaged in the attacks and which has stood vacant all these years. It's owners sold the building to Soho Properties for $4.85 million dollars in cash. Yes, CASH.
Soho properties CEO Sharif Al-Gamal has not identified the company's other investors, but we know that one of them is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the Cordoba Initiative www.cordobainitiative.org. Rauf has ties to Gulf money and has received funding from the Malaysian government, the location of the largest Muslim population in the world.
Malaysia embraces shariah law and has separate shariah courts. In January, three Christian churches were fire-bombed after a Catholic newspaper referred to the Christian God as "Allah." Rauf wrote that while this might have been legal, it was "socially inappropriate" because it upset the Muslim community (60% of the population). (here)
Take a look at this:
You think that he sounds reasonable? Just trying to promote peace and harmony among religions, built on respect? Not so fast. From Atlas Shrugs:
Friday, May 07, 2010
911 Mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Blames Christians: "The US and the West must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end"
The imam behind the 911 talks one way to the infidels and kuffars on the television and quite another when he is not building shrines to 911. Check out what Robert wrote about him in 2004.
Join the SIOA Facebook group and get all of the information, updates here. Get involved! SIOA CAMPAIGN OFFENSIVE: STOP THE 911 MOSQUE!
Feisal Abdul Rauf (ECTN) Jihadwatch
Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York imam, expects us to believe that jihad warfare was started by the West and can only be ended by the West. He is therefore either concealing or ignorant of the fact that violent jihad is a developed tradition within Islam and found in core Islamic texts (including but not limited to the Qur'an, as well as Hadith and books of Islamic jurisprudence). In those it has nothing to do with the behavior of infidels. It only has to do with the fact that they are infidels. Take, for example, this quotation from the Muslim prophet Muhammad:
When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. . . . If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim, book 019, Number 4294)That is offensive jihad. It is buttressed by numerous other sayings of the Prophet, by the Qur'an, and by Islamic legal scholars. But Feisal Abdul Rauf puts it all on the West, and gets invited to Australia by Premier Bob Carr.
The US and the West must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end, says an Islamic cleric invited to Sydney by Premier Bob Carr.New York-based Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who impressed Mr Carr at an international conference last year, arrives in Sydney today for two weeks of meetings and public talks.
Speaking from his New York mosque, Imam Feisal said the West had to understand the terrorists' point of view.
In a move likely to cause controversy with church leaders, Imam Feisal said it was Christians who started mass attacks on civilians.
"The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians. But it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets."
This is outrageously specious, but it depends on the ignorance of the listeners. The bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima were not justified by the bombers on the basis of Christian theology. The bombings by terrorists -- 9/11, 3/11, etc. -- are justified on the basis of Islamic theology. By claiming that they are equivalent, Abdul Rauf obscures the Islamic roots of modern-day terrorism, thus hindering the prospects for the reform within Islam that is so desperately needed if jihad terrorism is ever going to cease.
Imam Feisal said the bombing in Madrid had made his message more urgent. He said there was an endless supply of angry young Muslim rebels prepared to die for their cause and there was no sign of the attacks ending unless there was a fundamental change in the world.Does that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Confident that having that mosque no more than 600 feet from Ground Zero will promote 'understanding' between the islamic terrorists and the rest of New York? I didn't think so. Go here to read more, and for more on the imam behind the mosque, go to Family Security Matters here.
I am not buying ANY of their insulting 'reasons' - actually NON reasons why this mosque should be anywhere near Ground Zero. As Diane Fairben said to me earlier: "That would be like building a Japanese cultural centre at the entrance to Pearl Harbour." Diane and Ken Fairben, lest any of you forget, are the parents of Keith, who gave his life on 9/11 saving others. In a nutshell, Diane says what every logical, thinking American (and the rest of us) know to be the truth of this proposed travesty of a monument to Islam.
I have heard it said somewhere that this centre (with a swimming pool etc, ) is needed as a healing centre because muslims also died that day. Again, I call bs. Not one of the souls lost on 9/11 had their religions listed anywhere that I have found. Unless you know any of the 9/11 families, you could have NO idea what religion they are. Anyway, as we all know, that day was not about religion, unless you count the 'Religion of Peace' as a religion, which I do not. That day was about a sick ideology, an indoctrination that seeks to overcome all other ways of life, and rule supreme. Don't believe me?
Try this on:
Yes, very peaceful, as noted (with a little research, as prescribed):
"Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given [Jews and Christians]...until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (Surah 9:27-)"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them." (Surah 9:121-)
"Muhammad is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another." (Surah 48:29)
"Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it." (Surah 2:216)
and this:
"I will instil terror Into the hearts of the Unbelievers: Smite ye above their necks And smite all their Finger-tips off them." Surah 8:12.
WTC mosque: let's make a dealBy George Berkin
May 21, 2010, 5:54AM
I would support recently announced plans to build an Islamic mosque and cultural center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks on one very specific condition -- that Bible-believing evangelicals be permitted to build their own center in the heart of Tehran.
Manhattan gets the Qur’an. Iran gets the Bible. As they say, fair is fair.
And because an Islamic center in the heart of Manhattan is sure to become a focal point of Islamic proselytizing, the quid pro quo would include permission that those biblical believers staffing the evangelical information center in Tehran enjoy similar freedoms.
Specifically, evangelicals in the Tehran center must be permitted to distribute literature, speak freely with passers-by and invite any and all to attend Bible studies – all without interference from the authorities.
I make this fair-minded suggestion after hearing the news of preliminary plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center at the site of the former Burlington Coat factory building not far from Ground Zero....(here at NewJersey.com)
I suppose anybody who opposes this atrocity near Ground Zero (where they have resumed searching for remains of the lost of 9/11 by the way,) will be labelled an Islamophobe. I am quite fine with that. The msm has been 'reporting' that the opposition this obscenity is only coming from the 'families of the 9/11 victims', or that it is only New Yorkers who were directly affected by that terrible day, who are opposed. Not from where I sit. It is no secret I am not a New Yorker, nor did I lose a family member on that day, but I know obscene when I see it. This IS obscene, and according to everything I read, Americans across the land are against allowing the creeping Islamic presence so near to Ground Zero. Doesn't matter how soft spoken (or even yelling on the streets as they do in many parts ) the proponents of this latest insult, Islam is NOT a benign, benevolent 'Religion of Peace.' To think that they can weazle their way onto hallowed ground, and all us infidels will just quietly, as sheep, 'go along to get along,' is to grossly under-estimate the spirit and will of the people - you know, the infidels - from around the world.
Yes, the families of 9/11 feel the obscenity of this proposed mosque more keenly than any, and yes, they ARE speaking out:
Updated May 14, 2010Plan to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero Riles Families of 9/11 Victims
- FOXNews.com
Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
[...]
"This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the attack on the Pentagon that day."I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened," said Burlingame, who is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America.
[...]
The New York City Mayor's office says "It's private property, and the area is zoned for uses that include this one."
Pamela Gellar, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, blasted the organization behind the plans, Cordoba Initiative, and its leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, saying the project is "an insulting flag of conquest of Islamic supremacism.""How can you build a shrine to the very ideology that brought down the World Trade Center?" asked Geller, whose group is planning a June 6 rally to protest the project.
"We have to do everything we can to stop this ... a huge Muslim monument, a stone's throw from Ground Zero, with a mosque pointing toward Mecca."
She called it an act of deception that the group has been able to get the green light from the Lower Manhattan Community Board, whose finance committee gave it a thumbs-up last week.
[...]
Rauf insists the effort is meant to help heal the wounds of 9/11, "We've approached the community because we want this to be an example of how we are cooperating with the members of the community, not only to provide services but also to build a new discourse on how Muslims and non-Muslims can cooperate together to push back against the voices of extremism."
But Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, says there are more productive ways to fight Islamic extremism.
"Even when they have the resources, they are using it for a place of worship, a cultural center for organizations," he said. They are not using it for a counterterrorism research center.
"They are not using it to lead the war like Americans need to see us do and they are wasting our resources, not to mention that being close to the hallowed ground that is so sensitive in the souls of the families of 9/11. I think it is extremely poor judgment."
Jasser also has questions about the financing.
According to reports, the building that occupies the site was purchased last year for $4.85 million in cash by Soho Properties, a real estate company run by Muslims. Imam Rauf, who's also the founder of American Society for Muslim Advancement, ASMA, was an investor in that transaction.
The balance of the $100-150 million total cost still needs to be raised, but Rauf says he's confident it will be.
[...]Madeline Brooks, a member of the New York chapter of Act! for America, a non-profit organization that "is opposed to the authoritarian values of Islam fascism," believes the Cordoba Initiative's agenda is to co-opt the 9/11 narrative and transform it into a Muslim conquest.
"Is it a victory for Islam over non-Muslims?" she asks. "Is this a feather in his (Rauf's) cap?"
Brooks says she's received hundreds of angry e-mails from people who say they can't believe the audacity of this project. "Why here?" she asks. "Why are you offending and outraging people... stirring up a huge hornet's nest?"
[...]
"If they wanted peace and harmony," counters Brooks, "do you really think they'll get that?"
Riiiiiiight. There is much more here, and it is a must-read.
The Israel National News is also watching this blatant 'act of deception' (as Geller calls it,) as well they might:
New Yorkers Plan to Fight Mosque Near Ground Zero
by Hana Levi Julian
Ground Zero, the aftermathIsrael news photo: Joel Meyerowitz/ US State Dept
A growing rage is gripping New Yorkers over plans to build a 13-story mosque just two blocks away from the site of the worst terror attack ever perpetrated on U.S. soil.
“What could be more insulting and humiliating than a monster mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Center buildings that were brought down by an Islamic jihad attack?” said Pam Geller, who heads a protest group called Stop the Islamicization of America. “Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise wouldn't dream of such an insult. It's a stab in the eye of America,” she told The Times.
The group is calling for a massive protest on June 6.
If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting. I have nothing against Islam. I just think: why there?The plans by the American Society for Muslim Advancement call for construction of the mosque and community center at the former Burlington Coat factory, badly damaged in the attack by radical Muslim terrorists on September 11, 2001. The building has stood empty since “9/11” – but the group now wants to rebuild it as a major Islamic center instead.
Daisy Khan, director of the Society, explained that the group wants to “create a platform by which the voices of the mainstream and silent majority of Muslims will be amplified. A center of this scale and magnitude will do that.” (there is more here)
St Paul's
Photographs by James Wheeldon, and (inset) Leo Sorel
After the towers fell, a tiny 18th-century Episcopal church became a relief center. Clergy counseled, cooks dished out meals, and medical workers treated stiff muscles and burned feet.
An associate for ministry at Saint Paul’s shares his thoughts on 9/11.
On September 12, after having escaped the maelstrom of 9/11, I returned to Lower Manhattan to survey the damage to St. Paul’s Chapel—just yards away from where building 5 of the World Trade Center stood—and to find ways to be helpful in the rescue effort. At that point we assumed there would be many survivors. As I walked down Broadway from my apartment in Greenwich Village, my heart was pounding, not knowing what I might find. I assumed the chapel had been demolished. When I saw the spire still standing, I was overwhelmed. It took my breath away. Opening the door to enter St. Paul’s was an extraordinary experience; except for a layer of ash and soot, the building survived unscathed. Many proclaimed that “St. Paul’s had been spared.” It seemed clear to me that if this was true, it was not because we were holier than anyone who died across the street; it was because we now had a big job to do.
Taking this challenge to heart, we set up a cold drink concession and hot food service four days later for the rescue workers, and men from our shelter, and many others, proudly flipped burgers at what came to be called the “Barbecue on Broadway.” The relief ministry at St. Paul’s was supported by the labor of three local institutions—the Seamen’s Church Institute, the General Theological Seminary, and St. Paul’s, in the parish of Trinity Church—and volunteers from all over the country. More than 5,000 people used their special gifts to transform St. Paul’s into a place of rest and refuge. Musicians, clergy, podiatrists, lawyers, soccer moms, and folks of every imaginable type poured coffee, swept floors, took out the trash, and served more than half a million meals. Emerging at St. Paul’s was a dynamic I think of as a reciprocity of gratitude.a circle of thanksgiving—in which volunteers and rescue and recovery workers tried to outdo each other with acts of kindness and love, leaving both giver and receiver changed. This circle of gratitude was infectious, and I hope it continues to spread. In fact, I hope it turns into an epidemic.
There are so many stories that illustrate such selfless giving. One of the earliest, which continues to inspire me, is the story of the elderly African-American woman, probably in her 80s, who heard that a man working at ground zero had hurt his leg. So she got on the subway in the South Bronx and came all the way down to Lower Manhattan. She talked her way through the police lines, which at that time was no small feat, and came to St. Paul’s. Once inside she presented us with her own cane and then hobbled off. In that moment the universe became a little more generous.
A poet once said “midwinter spring is its own season.” The period from the terrorists attacks to the end of the recovery efforts at ground zero was its own season, lasting 260 days. ...[...]
— The Reverend Lyndon Harris
There are many references to be found on the internet about the wonderful work that St. Paul's did to shine the light of their mission during those dark days of 9/11. The history of this sanctuary dating back over 200 years is a joy to read. THIS column that I found on National Geographic is a wonderful place to start, and you can find the rest of it here.
The history of this church, both pre-, during and post-9/11 is a tangible testament to what is a genuine religion of peace. Seems to me, if these mosque proponents really believed in the same, they would find a way to work with churches such as St. Paul's, instead of demanding they be allowed to further lengthen the shadows of that terrible day, where the ugliness of Islam was on display for the whole world to witness.
Fact is, this is not a done deal, no matter how the muslims behind it have managed to hoodwink the first committee they met with. That meeting was only the first step in the approval process. I have frequently shared the site for the petition, but more needs to be done, so that your employees (the politicians) remember who it is they work for: New Yorkers, Americans, and not foreign money backing an ideology whose only mandate is to impose their hatred on us all.
Telephone calls need to be made, and emails sent. You could find all that on the internet, but I'll share them here, to make it easy for you. An email forwarded to me from Debra Burlingame - via a friend - has this:
Rauf is the imam of the Masjid Al-Farah mosque, a storefront mosque in Tribeca. He and his wife, Daisy Khan, (executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement--founded by Rauf) have told the media that the mosque is needed in this location to meet the needs of the Muslim population there. They hope to "grow the Muslim community" in lower Manhattan. They specifically chose this site because of its proximity to ground zero. They want to change the narrative about 9/11. They contend that the 19 hijackers "were not Muslims." They believe building a mosque there would amount to "something positive" coming out of 9/11.
Rauf has stated that the U.S. was complicit in the attacks because of its foreign policy which victimized Muslims. He maintains that terrorism will not end until the U.S. brokers a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel and the U.S. stops humiliating Muslims.
Rauf and Khan are saying that:
--the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Foundation has endorsed the plan. ABSOLUTELY FALSE
--Daisy Khan is an "advisor" to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Foundation. FALSE. There is no formal relationship.
--300 Muslims were killed on 9/11. FALSE; around 20 have been identified. The victims were never identified anywhere by religion unless families did so. There is no evidence that 300 victims were Muslims.
--they are not building a mosque, just a prayer space and a cultural center. FALSE (see the description of Cordoba House here www.cordobainitiative.org; "...the mosque...")
The media incorrectly reported that Community Board 1 "approved" the plan at a meeting on May 5th. In fact, the finance committee, composed of 12 people, voted unanimously in support after Rauf and Khan made a presentation. The matter will now go to the full committee (more than 40 people). The full committee will be meeting on May 25. WE NEED YOU ALL TO ATTEND TO VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION. CB1 has no legal authority. Their "approval" or disapproval is in no way binding on the matter, but the media will be there and we need to send a message to Rauf, Khan and Mayor Bloomberg: this is wrong. This will do terrible harm to the 9/11 family community.
[This column is too late for anyone to plan on attending that meeting, but Debra does give contact information, so you can raise your voices:]
Meanwhile, please write to Mayor Bloomberg to voice your objection. I would remind you that he is Chairman of the National September 11 Memorial Foundation and has donated some $15 million of his own money to the project. The Cordoba House will completely under the effort to preserve the history of 9/11 for future generations.Contact -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, City Hall. Write him every day:PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)FAX (212) 788-8123The 12-member Financial District Committee who unanimously approved this abomination: GO HERE, BE POLITE.And Community Board 1 Members who gave them the authority to do so: GO HERE, BE POLITE.Email: man01@cb.nyc.gov
Telephone:
Fax: (212) 442-5055
Address:
49-51 Chambers Street Room 715
New York, NY 10007-1209
Staff
Noah Pfefferblit, District Manager
Michael Levine, Director of Planning and Land Use
Yume Kitasei, Community Liaison
Lucy Acevedo, Community CoordinatorThere will be a rally on June 6 at Ground Zero, specific location to be announced. Please send this info to everyone you know. Updates can be found at www.soia.com
There is also a FaceBook page about this rally:
6/6/10 - PROTEST THE 911 MEGA MOSQUE
Date: Time: Location:
SIOA Rally Calls for Halt to Plans for Ground Zero Mosque Forbes.com
NEW YORK, May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The human rights group SIOA is hosting a rally at Ground Zero to protest the construction of a mosque at the site of the Islamic terror attack that brought down the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. SIOA is one of America's foremost organizations defending human rights, religious liberty, and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation and attempts to bring elements of Sharia to the United States.
Join SIOA's Facebook page here. http://www.SIOAfacebook.com/
Victims of 9/11 - those who lost family or friends, or who were injured on that day - are especially invited to attend the rally.
The SIOA No 9/11 Mosque Rally will be at Ground Zero on June 6 at 12 noon. Supporting groups (partial list): ACT for America (ACT Manhattan chapter); Z Street; Freedom Defense Initiative; No Mosque at Ground Zero; Faith Freedom International; Stuart Kaufman; American Bulldogs; VAST; and the Center for Security Policy....
"We chose June 6 as the rally date," Geller explained, "because it's D-Day. In 1944, Americans acted against the evil of Nazism. Now it is time for Americans to stand up against the evil of Islamic jihad terrorism and Islamic supremacism."
Said Geller: "The only Muslim center that should be built in the shadow of the World Trade Center is one that is devoted to expunging the Koran and all Islamic teachings of the violent jihad that they prescribe, as well as all hateful texts and incitement to violence."...
We have all seen the march of Islam across Europe, as they seek to eradicate the native cultures and dominate. We have all watched as the pockets of Islam take hold across north America, in their attempt to have all us infidels submit.
Ground Zero is but the latest most blatant symbol of these attempts. It is now time for all of us to stand up and tell them: NO! Not at Ground Zero.
Darryl Worley
I hear people saying we don't need this war
But, I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend
Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it everyday
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
Well, after 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right
Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And we vowed to get the one’s behind bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for
Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?
NEVER FORGET: THIS piece of land IS worth fighting for.
“I will not surrender/I will not submit.”
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