Mosque controversy and plight of Muslims in US

Ground Zero Mosque: Raising hope ...and... and anger. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

FOR the last several weeks both print and electronic media here in the US have been abuzz with only one topic -- the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero of New York (the place where the Twin Towers once stood). The clamour over the proposed centre (usually referred to as mosque by the media) has been so great that even the US president had to comment on it.
Opposition to the centre has been overwhelming -- about 60% according to a Time magazine opinion poll. Criticisms from people opposing the project have ranged from mild and polite to downright caustic and hostile. Politicians and opinion leaders including media pundits have all weighed in, mostly against the centre, albeit a few have supported it on the ground of religious freedom and the right of people to choose any place for worship.
What is this Islamic Center and why has it attracted so much ire from so many people in a country that prides itself in a constitution founded on the rights of people, irrespective of race, colour, and religious persuasion? The project called Park51 involves building a twelve-story structure two blocks away from Ground Zero. It will accommodate a library, fitness centre, children's centre, information centre, a five hundred seat auditorium, and a praying hall for Muslims.
Although the prayer hall or mosque is one of several community service facilities of the proposed centre, unfortunately, the whole project has been turned on its head and labeled as mosque by its opponents. The sponsors of the project have already bought an existing old structure that they plan to demolish, and build a new structure at an estimated cost of about $100 million.
Many arguments, from the mildest to the harshest, have been put forward by the opponents of the project. A polite argument recognises the right of every religious group to establish a centre of worship anywhere in the country, but wants the centre to be located elsewhere. The argument to move it elsewhere is made because the closeness of a mosque to Ground Zero might evoke wrong sentiments among people who had lost their loved ones at the hands of terrorists -- who unfortunately were also Muslims. The proponents of this argument, however, ignore the fact that close to 300 of those who died in the Twin Tower attack were Muslims.
The harshest has come from the section of people known as the right-wingers or hard core conservatives who not only find the location inappropriate, but also question the right of the Muslims to build a prayer hall. In their criticism, they have broad-brushed all Muslims with the terrorists of September 11, and have charged the religion itself of preaching violence rather than peace.
A supporter of this line of argument, the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, went so far as to say that to allow an Islamic Centre near Ground Zero would be tantamount to allowing Nazis to "put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington."
The mosque controversy has seized the media in last few weeks so much that other more pressing domestic and foreign issues have taken a backseat. Fewer discussions centered on unemployment, declining stock prices, or the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. We saw news and pictures of protesters in New York, political leaders commenting on the subject, and other pundits mulling the propriety of one or other side of the debate.
The most important fallout of this controversy, however, has been open venting of feelings by people about Islam and Muslims in general all over the country. The controversy seems to have opened a Pandora's Box. It has unleashed a wave of negative feelings about Islam and Muslims that may have been latent in the majority population in the US. More importantly, it has brought a feeling of discomfort among the Muslims in the US, and some uncertainty about their rightful place in the US society.
There could be several reasons for this seeming outrage against Muslims and Islam, albeit limited to a section of the US population. First, there is still a vast unawareness about Islam and Muslims among average US citizens. Despite the growth from immigration and natural increase, Muslims account for about 1% of the US population (compared with nearly 3% for Jewish population).
In addition, unlike the Jewish community, the Muslims are a highly fractured community. They represent many different nationalities and ethnicity. The perception of Islam and Muslim is often derived from a Middle Eastern stereotype. The national origins of the perpetrators of September 11 (all from Arab countries) have, unfortunately, strengthened the perception.
The venting of negative feelings about Muslims and Islam has been further caused by the events of the last few years. Several arrests were made in the last three years in many US cities where people of this faith were charged either with actual acts of terrorism or conspiracy to launch terrorist attacks in public places. Two of these that occurred in the recent past made indelible impressions among the public.
First was the wanton killing of people by a Muslim army major in an army cantonment. Second was the attempted bombing of Time Square by a disgruntled Muslim youth. To these one could add terrorist attacks that take place regularly in countries in which the US is engaged in wars.
This perception has been used by the extreme right in the US to negatively manipulate American opinion about Islam and its followers, and to raise suspicions about US Muslims. They have further attempted to fan the suspicion by spreading a false rumour about the president's religion (that he is a Muslim) and his foreign birth. The mosque controversy is being used as a weapon to advance political goals of certain sections in the country.
Where do US Muslims stand to counter these attacks? Actually nowhere. Most are silently watching these developments and hoping that the problem will go away. Being in the minority, they do not represent a monolithic community. They also have little political influence. They need is to speak out either as individuals or in groups to their neighbouring communities about what their religion truly represents and how it spurns violence in the name of religion.
The purpose of the proposed centre in New York is to promote this message and acquaint the uninformed with true Islam. To represent true Islam and to benefit the Muslim community, New York Park51 (Islamic Center) may not necessarily be built close to Ground Zero. If the overwhelming sentiment in the city so directs, let the sponsors build the centre elsewhere in New York.
I have great faith in the American people and the American belief in the rights of people. I am sure that, ultimately, we will have a solution to this controversy that will be agreeable to all. In his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, Gorge Washington had written: "It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support." This statement should be true today as it was two hundred and twenty years ago.
Ziauddin M. Choudhury is a former Bangladesh civil servant. He now works for an International Organization in Washington DC.