Source/Credit: Duluth News Tribune
By Imran Hayee | September 12 2010
Terrorism has absolutely no place in Islam. Instead, Islam teaches us how to create peace within ourselves and how to make peace with our fellow men — regardless of color, politics or beliefs.
In the wake of the ninth anniversary of the horrific Sept. 11 attacks, the debate over allowing Muslims to build a mosque a few blocks from ground zero continues to draw heat. While all legal issues have been resolved, the Park51 Mosque still encounters many political and emotional hurdles. Park51 mosque advocates argue that once completed, Park51 will partially function as an interfaith and community center, bridging the gaps between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Opponents, while acknowledging Muslims’ legal right to build the mosque, argue that its proximity to ground zero hurts the sensitivities and feelings of the victims of the attacks.
Thus, the issue is being debated on emotional and political turfs rather than on a legal one.
A recent poll indicated nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose the Park51 Mosque project. The sentiments among politicians and religious leaders are not very different. President Obama acknowledged the right of Muslims to build a place of worship anywhere in America, but stated his endorsement was not for the specific Park51 site.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has staunchly defended the project while his predecessor has vehemently opposed it. Bloomberg reminded America, “Let’s not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and Americans.” Rudolph Giuliani, in contrast, while addressing Imam Rauf, who is leading the project, said, “You are going to horribly offend the people who were most directly offended by this.”
The former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, echoed similar sentiments. In her usual eloquence she Tweeted, “Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts.”
While Giuliani and Palin’s arguments against the Park51 Mosque deserve attention, they carry unwarranted assumptions. Why would an interfaith alliance center and mosque built near ground zero hurt the sensitivities and feelings of the victims of Sept. 11? The answer to this question lies in one of the slogans a protester raised, stating, “All I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11.”
Almost instantly, the Sept. 11 attacks shaped the thoughts and reflections of Americans about Islam. Even though al-Qaeda, an international terrorist organization, masterminded and executed the Sept. 11 attacks, many Americans still equate al-Qaeda with Islam and see Muslims as agents of Osama bin Laden. Where the Park51 Mosque may hurt the feelings of those affected by Sept. 11, this very reaction dubs all Muslims as terrorists or extremists, thereby hurting the sentiments of more than 2 million peace-loving American Muslims.
The issue is no longer whether to allow or block the Park51 Mosque. The challenge is how to build the peaceful image of Islam. And it’s how to restore the lost interfaith harmony in the hearts and minds of Americans. By exploiting the Park51 Mosque and continuing to prevent another opportunity to establish interfaith harmony, politicians and religious leaders only incite more resentment, and they further accentuate the polarization between Islam and America. If Americans forget the history of the very creation of America — on religious, political and economic freedom — it only strengthens the hands of the real enemy: terrorists of no, or all, religious persuasions.
As an American Muslim, I commemorated the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11 by remembering all the victims in my special prayers. My heart goes out to the families of the victims of Sept. 11, as all of them are my brothers and sisters in humanity and in American values of tolerance and fraternity, if not in religion.
Terrorism has absolutely no place in Islam. Instead, Islam teaches us how to create peace within ourselves and how to make peace with our fellow men — regardless of color, politics or beliefs.
“The world needs peace, love and brotherhood,” said Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the supreme head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. “The world needs an end to wars. Instead of walls of hatred being erected, we need peace to prevail, and for this to come about, people of all faiths must join together.”
Imran Hayee of Duluth is an associate professor and the director of graduate studies in the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He belongs to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, one of the oldest Muslim organizations in the U.S. Its motto is “love for all, hatred for none.”
Read original post here: Islam teaches peace with self and others
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