The Park51 mosque unmasks our irrationality

By Editor on October 15, 2010 5:38 am

A majority of Americans are opposed to Park51, the proposed Islamic center at Ground Zero. While acknowledging the fears and positions of the critics of the center, writer and editor Parthiv Parekh explains why such a position goes against quintessential American ideals, widens the civilizational wedge between Islam and the U.S., and undermines our so-called fight against terrorism.

While September 11 was a game-changing monstrosity of an event in the annals of terrorism in the name of Islam, relatively small -scale but no less bloody and mindless suicide killings have become a tragically regular phenomenon in places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In recent years, the world, from England and Australia to Indonesia and India, has endured the fatalism of misguided Muslims who have resorted to suicide missions as a modus operandi.

Corresponding to this rise in terrorism has been an increasing pressure on moderate Muslims to speak out against the radicals amongst them who perpetuate or support such ungodly acts. In this divide, it would seem wise and easy enough to reach out to and strengthen the moderates while crowding out the radicals, wouldn’t you think?

Apparently not. The opponents of Park51, an Islamic center proposed to be built close to Ground Zero are doing just the opposite. They intend to drive out-of-town a project that epitomizes Islamic moderation and outreach. Park51 is envisioned as a community center that would include a mosque, auditorium, theater, fitness center, childcare area, bookstore, culinary school, art studio, and food court. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind Park51, a Sufi practitioner of Islam, is a progressive who has been a vocal critic of 9/11 as well as other terrorism in the name of Islam. Despite the cherry-picked citations of his critics, which attempts to portray otherwise, Imam Rauf has a track record towards improving relations between Islam and the West. Amongst his many efforts in this area is his book—What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right with America—which highlights common ground between Islam and America. One of Rauf’s key objectives for Park51 is to promote multi-faith dialogue.

And this is being opposed instead of being encouraged? How can we sanctimoniously implore moderate Muslims to fight against the rabid elements within their fold, and then turn around and challenge them when they make grand plans to do so?

No one is opposing the mosque, critics might say; it is its location—just two blocks from Ground Zero—that is being opposed. They say it would taint the memory of 9/11 victims. No doubt this was a traumatic attack, not just for those directly affected, but for America itself. Our feelings of loss and angst are only natural; yet, our reaction towards Park51 is no less irrational than that of terrorists who are equally indiscriminate in their targets. The one and only reason to believe that a mosque in this vicinity is an act of disrespect to either the victims or to America itself, is our unwillingness to distinguish between a legitimate global religion versus its misguided miscreants.

This basic fairness that a religion or a nation not be identified by the few amongst it who would do wrong is being denied to Muslims. We may be tempted to do so because a disproportionately high number of terrorists attacks in our times are perpetuated in the name of Islam. Columnist Charles Krauthammer has gone through the trouble of pegging down the number of Muslims who he sees as having radical affiliations: 7 percent, he concludes. Taking this at face value how is it fair to characterize the entire Muslim community by 7 percent of their members while the rest of the 93 percent are simply following their faith? Sure, the high incidence of terrorism in the Muslim world is indeed troublesome, but does that make it fair to castigate the entire faith of close to two billion people? Despite frequent accusations that all Muslims are jihadists by decree, a vast majority of them are not going about plotting harm against others.

Critics of Park51 have also frequently made the point that if Imam Rauf is indeed a peace-loving man, why can’t he simply relocate his proposed center away from Ground Zero? This raises the question: Exactly how far away from Ground Zero would the mosque complex stop being a symbol of terrorism? And morph into an acceptable edifice? Park51 is either a legitimate construct that has a legal, moral, and ethical right to exist anywhere in the United States, or it is somehow linked to terrorism. If it is the latter, then why is it acceptable even in the middle of Wyoming, for example?

Poll results show that a majority of Americans oppose Park51. This is a disturbingly unequivocal statement that America—a nation built on the ideals of freedom of religion and equality—is making on Islam: “It is not just your deviant radicals that we have a problem with, but it is the Muslim religion itself that we have a problem with—because we are not willing to distinguish between the two.”

This reversal of stance on our founding values is driven by the same irrational passion that drives terrorists. It is also a sad irony that this reaction so richly augments the mission of those who rammed those planes into the towers—to widen the civilizational wedge between Islam and the West.

As far as Americans go, maintaining the integrity of our foundational values in the Park51 controversy goes hand-in-hand with reaching out to moderate Muslims—something that can go much farther in diffusing terrorism than trillion-dollar defense budgets and hard power ever can.

Parthiv Parekh is a co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Khabar, a monthly features magazine serving Indian Americans in and around Georgia. He can be reached at editor@khabar.com

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