Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Folks, help me out here. On Tuesday, Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic blogged that those opposing the Cordoba Mosque are serving the interests of Osama bin Laden, who seeks to promote a clash of civilizations. Osama bin Laden would bomb the Cordoba Mosque, Goldberg writes, because "al Qaeda's goal is the purification of Islam (that is to say, its extreme understanding of Islam) and apostates pose more of a threat to Bin Laden's understanding of Islam than do infidels."
Goldberg states in his post that he knows Feisal Abdul Rauf personally, so presumably he has some authority to identify him as an apostate. He characterizes Rauf as "a Muslim who believes that it is possible to remain true to the values of Islam and, at the same time, to be a loyal citizen of a Western, non-Muslim country."
Excellent. So has he asked Rauf why he wants to call the mosque Cordoba House? Has anyone asked him?
Forgive me if I've missed that conversation, if it ever took place, but it seems to me essential if anyone is to believe that this mosque is intended to be a place of healing -- if it is to be, indeed, anything other than the "victory for political Islam" that Peter Robinson cited in his post yesterday. I'm not trying to be snarky here: I sincerely hope to find evidence somewhere that Rauf has publicly explained the name, which -- in the absence of an explanation -- can only be viewed as a deliberately provocative choice, and a choice that belies all the talk about the mosque's wholesome, bridge-building intentions. Has anyone asked him?
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May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
The name -- now changed -- was presumably taken from the organization building it, The Cordoba Initiative. From its Web site: "Despite what many think, Islam and the West have a long history of coexistence and harmony. For nearly 800 years, the city of Cordoba in Spain endured as a shining example of tolerance among the three monotheistic religions. Muslim, Christian and Jew cohabited in prosperity during a period known for its outstanding literary and scientific productivity."
See too this long forgotten profile.
I'd also encourage everyone to watch this brief speech he delivered to his Manhattan community board, and decide if the audible reactions in the audience make you feel proud or ashamed.
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Conor, thank you.
I am perfectly willing to believe that this obviously dignified, well-spoken, apparently good-hearted man means every word he says in his presentation. And I'm glad to learn that the name of the mosque has been changed, although I wonder again whether the issue of the original provocation the name represented was ever publicly addressed. (For it was one; there's no denying it.) And I'm certainly not going to defend the rudeness of the people who interrupted him, who -- since they do not represent me -- make me neither proud nor ashamed.
But surely a man as sensitive as Rauf appears to be can understand why many people, rude or otherwise, might be legitimately offended by the placement of a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. It can only be in his interest to address the offense directly in order to defuse it. Has he defended the placement of the site? And has he addressed the perfectly reasonable concern that a mosque built at that particular spot will be widely interpreted as a victory for political Islam, even if that is not its intention?
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
What's the new name?
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Conor,
I deny the claim that Islam, genuine Islam, can coexist peacefully with the West. After having taken into consideration the claims of both its holy texts as well as it authorities, it don't think Islam qua Islam can exist harmoniously with civil society. The best I think we can achieve is a domestication of Islam by the rationalist influences of the West, e.g., Cordoba, where the extremism of religion as such was tempered by Greco-Roman philosophy and law. So the "Islam" that Rauf claims is compatible with the West is quite different from the Islam I'm speaking of.
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
It's Park 51, presumably named for the address.
Jul '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Feisal Abdul Rauf runs the Cordoba Initiative. A peaceful name if I've heard one.
It's not Park 51 on the website...
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Judith, no problem.
I don't know if the original name was ever addressed -- I've been trying to figure that out -- but I disagree that it was obviously a provocation, even though I understand why it sounds that way to some American ears. You'll find a lot of American historians who regard Cordoba as a high point for religious tolerance among Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and a Muslim man founding an organization to promote interfaith tolerance after 9/11 might well choose that name. It isn't as if the average American had a darker association back then.
I'll get back to you on whether he has defended the site directly when I have more time to search. I should also say that while I disagree with the Ricochet near consensus on this issue, I very much prefer it to the National Review take.
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Michael Tee: Feisal Abdul Rauf runs the Cordoba Initiative. A peaceful name if I've heard one.
It's not Park 51 on the website... · Aug 5 at 4:08am
The organization has existed for years, and it hasn't been renamed. The mosque and community center, formerly called The Cordoba House after its parent organization, has been renamed to Park 51, out of deference to a bunch of American critics who erroneously assumed that the reference to Cordoba was a provocation masking a desire to impose an Islamic caliphate.
You'll recall President Bush's chagrin when he spoke of a crusade after 9/11, forgetting that the term isn't often used so casually in the Muslim world. These sorts of misunderstandings happen.
Jul '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
It was not a high point of religious tolerance. Mozarabs (dhimmi) had to pay the jizyah for their unbelief. Ibn Hazm of Cordoba (d. 1064), wrote that Allah has established the infidels’ ownership of their property merely to provide booty for Muslims. They were also restricted in the religious practices. They were segregated, and in may cases, were put into servitude. Many fled. In addition, they were further "encouraged" to convert to Islam (Muwalladun), which many did. Dhimmi were not allowed to educate themselves; they were denied scientific books for example.
Maimonides narrowly escaped death during the massacre of dhimmis in Cordoba.
Iberia was conquered in 710-716. Churches were converted to mosques, It proceeded as a classical jihad with the attendant pillaging, enslavement, deportations and killing. in the following years, there were uprisings in Toledo, Saragossa, and Cordova. The insurgents were crucified.
This notion of harmony within the Umayyad Dynasty in the Caliphate of Cordoba is overblown.
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
"This notion of harmony within the Umayyad Dynasty in the Caliphate of Cordoba is overblown."
Michael, I am not going to get into extended argument about Spain 1,000 years ago. The relevant thing here is that lots of historians -- ones of all faiths, and secular ones too -- assert that Cordoba was a high point, and that it's perfectly plausible for a Muslim to innocently invoke it as such without any ill meaning intended or controversy expected.
Similarly, someone could invoke 1776 as a high point in human freedom, only to have a black person indignantly respond that their ancestors were brutally enslaved during that period.
If you judge someone by the least charitable interpretation of everything they say you're going to see a lot more enemies than you actually have.
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Conor Friedersdorf: "Similarly, someone could invoke 1776 as a high point in human freedom, only to have a black person indignantly respond that their ancestors were brutally enslaved during that period.
If you judge someone by the least charitable interpretation of everything they say you're going to see a lot more enemies than you actually have. · Aug 5 at 4:52am
Yes, I think I agree with Conor here. The jury's out on whether the name was meant as a provocation, and it probably wasn't.
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
What about this assessment of Feisal Abdul Rauf posted by Ricochet member John Davey in July? "My assumption is that the people behind Cordoba House (not the Muslims) are on the other side. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will not offer that jihad is inherently evil, & won't refute the terror Hamas does in the name of jihad. He reasons Shari'a fits well with Western law. That's political, which the whole effort in creating this seems to be. My friend, just back after 12 years in S.E. Asia assures me that is the Islamic perception in Asia. They're cheering."
I think that I would like to see them sign Peter's very well articulated manifesto and relocate their mosque (Bill McGurn).
Jul '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
No, the simile is inapt. Slavery had existed for millennia, and 1776 put slavery, as President Lincoln said, on the course of ultimate extinction, at least in the West.
I suggest the GZM situation is more like this: Arsonists destroy an important cultural landmark in Harlem. A group raises funds to build a museum devoted to the trials and hardships of the men who built the Atlantic slave trade. The local residents are outraged, but the backers argue, a posteriori, that the place will be in the spirit of a Holocaust museum: "never again". The residents remain unconvinced and demand that the museum be relocated or not built at all.
Michael Tee's description of Cordoba, above, is detailed, telling, and convincing. Apparently the backers of the GZM agree, at least in part, because they are renaming the mosque. Maybe those claiming offense aren't merely being oversensitive after all...
Jun '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Dialectic is a wonderful tool for revealing the truth even if it sometimes takes awhile. I'm not ready just yet to come down on one side or the other. But I do think Peter offered one common sense approach in his manifesto that should be pursued. Follow the money. I want to know how much Wahhabist money is behind this project. Wahhabism remains at the center of the problem. It's the ideology (along with its Salafist variants) that generates all the worst characteristics of Islam. Not enough is made of this except by a very few who see the problem clearly.
Jul '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
I have another question...
Why is it that "Sensitivity" is always a ONE WAY STREET, and that somehow I, or my point of view in the public sector, NEVER get the benefit of the doubt, but when I'm offended, they ALWAYS get the benefit of the doubt?
Just curious.
May '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
The structure, if built, will never be called Park 51 by the public. It will be known on the street as the Ground Zero Mosque. If Rauf truly wanted to show deference to the opposition, the project wouldn't have made it this far.
I think of it as a monument to Liberal Good Intentions. They think they're creating something wonderful to straddle the divide between freedom and Islam. This stretching stunt injures more than it heals.
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Another question to ask the cleric leading the effort to build the mosque is why he wrote a book titled, "What's Right With Islam is What's Right With America," but published the same book in Malaysia under the title, "A Call To Prayer From The World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Dawah In The Heart of America Post 9/11." Dawah is the term used for Islamic proselytizing, which ultimately leads to sharia. And what of the cleric's refusal to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization, or his links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is linked to terrorist enterprises? What of his praise for Yusuf Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who predicted that Islam will "conquer America" through dawah?
All the sophistry in the world won't change a reality so obvious that Ray Charles would have been able to see it. Even Neville Chamberlain eventually woke up and did so before, not after, an attack on British Soil.
Aug '10
Re: Has Anyone Asked This Question?
Michael, I am not going to get into extended argument about Spain 1,000 years ago.
Then why did you cite that talking point? Everything Michael cited is not obscure history. Indeed, the very fact Cordoba is innocently cited by Muslims (with the aid of complicit Westerners) as a "high point" in "religious harmony" is exactly why provocation is built into this very project, this very organization, this very religion.