Siddique Malik Presents Another Calling Ground Zero Mosque Opponents "Bigots".
A mosque at Ground Zero?
By Siddique Malik
America's bigots and desperate politicians joined hands in trying to derail the Cordoba Initiative, also referred to as the Ground Zero mosque. They pressured the bureaucrats in denying necessary permits to the Cordoba Initiative on flimsy grounds. This mindless opposition to a place of worship strikes at what America stands for: equality, human dignity, and uninhibited freedom — including uninhibited religious freedom. The First Amendment is very clear on what it sanctions and sanctifies.
No country is immune to bigotry, and America is no exception. But the fact that some heavyweight American politicians jumped on the bigotry band-wagon shocked me. Newt Gingrich, who once was second in line to the presidency by the virtue of being Speaker of the House of Representatives opposed the mosque because its proposed site was too close to the place where once stood the twin towers that 19 Muslim terrorist destroyed on 9/11/2001, as if these terrorist were unanimously deputed by all of the world's 1.3 billion or so Muslims to carry out that heinous attack.
One of the planks of Gingrich's pathetic logic is that Saudi Arabia does not allow practice of any religion other than Islam. Gingrich insulted America by equating it with a bigoted, antediluvian theocracy? Saudi Arabia also does not have a Bill of Rights and outlaws extramarital and nonmarital sex. Considering Gingrich's carnal adventures, I am sure he does not favor adopting those Stone Age laws.
Columnist Cal Thomas supported Gingrich's un-American behavior with equally absurd arguments. Thomas wrote, “Ask yourself: if you wanted to infiltrate a country, wouldn't a grand strategy be to rapidly build mosques from Ground Zero in New York, to Temecula, Calif., and establish beachheads so fanatics could plan and advance their strategies under the cover of religious freedom.” Infiltrate a country? What about the right of American Muslims, many of whom were born in America to practice their faith and build mosques? And how can a group infiltrate America's administrative machinery? Does Thomas know we hold elections in this country?
If Thomas and his cohorts have a magic wand that can tell if a person or a group will turn a criminal, they should, for the sake of society, publicize it. There is always a chance that a murderer or a drug dealer will hide in a neighborhood, but this does not mean we should stop building subdivisions. Did we ban building churches after Timothy McVeigh blew up a building that, among other facilities, also housed a day care center?
Sarah Palin is more a comedian than a politician, but she does not know that. She asked Muslims to repudiate the mosque — I refuse to use the word she used to mean repudiate even with enveloping apostrophes, because kids might read this article. Why should Muslim Americans act in an un-American way and refute a proposed place of worship, simply because Palin has decided to? She should try to read the Constitution while remembering that it is not a coloring book.
On Aug. 3, New York's Landmark Preservation Commission spoke loudly and clearly. In a 9-0 vote, it decided that 45 Park Place did not deserve historic protection and could be demolished to make room for a new complex to house the Cordoba Initiative. Opponents to the mosque had pinned their hopes on the commission to mimic them in embracing bigotry, but the commission did its duty toward fairness and justice.
The onus is now on those who are managing the Cordoba Initiative. Of course, they have the right to erect their building and they should, but one hopes that their proposed center will be more than just a place where Muslims gather for prayers.
Generally, any assembly of Muslims quickly degenerates into a prayer group. Muslim groups talk big about Islam being a religion of peace and of Muslim's great history, but act little to not at all in terms of confronting bigots within.
The Cordoba Initiative will have to deal with this inherent challenge among Muslims, as it proceeds to deliberate on ways to modernize Muslims' thought process as a prelude to stimulating interfaith harmony, one of its declared goals. But the task is enormous: Al-Azhar (Egypt's Muslim university) hasn't done it; Deoband (India's equivalent of Al-Azhar) hasn't done it; Saudi Arabia only produced the Wahabism that compared to Saudi Arabia's other creation, Salafism, looks like a beach party; Pakistan has enshrined bigotry as an article of its constitution. This disregard of freedom pervades the entire Muslim world, and even some Muslims living in the West try to rationalize it.
Whether or not the Cordoba Initiative succeeds in its lofty goals or even tries to, its right to house itself in Lower Manhattan is undisputed. Those who scoffed and opposed its proximity to Ground Zero were bigots. But the group must remember: It is also not far from the Statue of Liberty. None of the Muslim schools of thought mentioned in the preceding paragraph had that inspirational advantage. The Cordoba Initiative shouldn't need much more to trigger a revolution of ideas. It must live up to its address.
Siddique Malik of Louisville is an information technology analyst. He is a Courier-Journal Point Taken blogger.
By Siddique Malik
America's bigots and desperate politicians joined hands in trying to derail the Cordoba Initiative, also referred to as the Ground Zero mosque. They pressured the bureaucrats in denying necessary permits to the Cordoba Initiative on flimsy grounds. This mindless opposition to a place of worship strikes at what America stands for: equality, human dignity, and uninhibited freedom — including uninhibited religious freedom. The First Amendment is very clear on what it sanctions and sanctifies.
No country is immune to bigotry, and America is no exception. But the fact that some heavyweight American politicians jumped on the bigotry band-wagon shocked me. Newt Gingrich, who once was second in line to the presidency by the virtue of being Speaker of the House of Representatives opposed the mosque because its proposed site was too close to the place where once stood the twin towers that 19 Muslim terrorist destroyed on 9/11/2001, as if these terrorist were unanimously deputed by all of the world's 1.3 billion or so Muslims to carry out that heinous attack.
One of the planks of Gingrich's pathetic logic is that Saudi Arabia does not allow practice of any religion other than Islam. Gingrich insulted America by equating it with a bigoted, antediluvian theocracy? Saudi Arabia also does not have a Bill of Rights and outlaws extramarital and nonmarital sex. Considering Gingrich's carnal adventures, I am sure he does not favor adopting those Stone Age laws.
Columnist Cal Thomas supported Gingrich's un-American behavior with equally absurd arguments. Thomas wrote, “Ask yourself: if you wanted to infiltrate a country, wouldn't a grand strategy be to rapidly build mosques from Ground Zero in New York, to Temecula, Calif., and establish beachheads so fanatics could plan and advance their strategies under the cover of religious freedom.” Infiltrate a country? What about the right of American Muslims, many of whom were born in America to practice their faith and build mosques? And how can a group infiltrate America's administrative machinery? Does Thomas know we hold elections in this country?
If Thomas and his cohorts have a magic wand that can tell if a person or a group will turn a criminal, they should, for the sake of society, publicize it. There is always a chance that a murderer or a drug dealer will hide in a neighborhood, but this does not mean we should stop building subdivisions. Did we ban building churches after Timothy McVeigh blew up a building that, among other facilities, also housed a day care center?
Sarah Palin is more a comedian than a politician, but she does not know that. She asked Muslims to repudiate the mosque — I refuse to use the word she used to mean repudiate even with enveloping apostrophes, because kids might read this article. Why should Muslim Americans act in an un-American way and refute a proposed place of worship, simply because Palin has decided to? She should try to read the Constitution while remembering that it is not a coloring book.
On Aug. 3, New York's Landmark Preservation Commission spoke loudly and clearly. In a 9-0 vote, it decided that 45 Park Place did not deserve historic protection and could be demolished to make room for a new complex to house the Cordoba Initiative. Opponents to the mosque had pinned their hopes on the commission to mimic them in embracing bigotry, but the commission did its duty toward fairness and justice.
The onus is now on those who are managing the Cordoba Initiative. Of course, they have the right to erect their building and they should, but one hopes that their proposed center will be more than just a place where Muslims gather for prayers.
Generally, any assembly of Muslims quickly degenerates into a prayer group. Muslim groups talk big about Islam being a religion of peace and of Muslim's great history, but act little to not at all in terms of confronting bigots within.
The Cordoba Initiative will have to deal with this inherent challenge among Muslims, as it proceeds to deliberate on ways to modernize Muslims' thought process as a prelude to stimulating interfaith harmony, one of its declared goals. But the task is enormous: Al-Azhar (Egypt's Muslim university) hasn't done it; Deoband (India's equivalent of Al-Azhar) hasn't done it; Saudi Arabia only produced the Wahabism that compared to Saudi Arabia's other creation, Salafism, looks like a beach party; Pakistan has enshrined bigotry as an article of its constitution. This disregard of freedom pervades the entire Muslim world, and even some Muslims living in the West try to rationalize it.
Whether or not the Cordoba Initiative succeeds in its lofty goals or even tries to, its right to house itself in Lower Manhattan is undisputed. Those who scoffed and opposed its proximity to Ground Zero were bigots. But the group must remember: It is also not far from the Statue of Liberty. None of the Muslim schools of thought mentioned in the preceding paragraph had that inspirational advantage. The Cordoba Initiative shouldn't need much more to trigger a revolution of ideas. It must live up to its address.
Siddique Malik of Louisville is an information technology analyst. He is a Courier-Journal Point Taken blogger.
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 8:48 PM
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