The Soul Of America

By Ramesh Thakur, *A fight for the soul of America* - Ottawa Citizen - Ottawa, Canada
Monday, August 30, 2010

To accept compromise on the construction of an Islamic centre in lower Manhattan would be to accept defeat of the American way of life and the triumph of bigotry

The wholly manufactured controversy over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" is almost a perfect illustration of William Butler Yeats' lament that the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

Reasons for the opposition include sacrilege being committed by locating a mosque on the hallowed ground where 3,000 Americans lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of 9/11; the raw anger that still rages in the hearts of Americans against the jihadists who carried out the attacks in the name of Islam; the alleged disrespect being hurled at Americans by radical and jihadist imams preparing to do a provocative victory dance at Ground Zero; and the need to respect the wishes of the relatives of the victims who died that day.

To begin with, the words at the centre of the controversy are inaccurate and misleading. Park51, as the project is officially called, is two blocks away from where the World Trade Center towers stood without even a clear line of sight to Ground Zero. The "hallowed ground" is in fact the premises of the Burlington Coat Factory that shut down and closed shop some time ago. And there are strip clubs within the two-block radius of the real Ground Zero.

Second, Park51 is not a mosque but an Islamic cultural centre that will include a fitness centre, swimming pool, basketball court, food court, performing arts centre, and a bookstore, as well as a prayer room. The board that approved the project, not the least because they were impressed by the plans to emphasize the tenets of mainstream, moderate Islam that emphatically rejects the jihadist narrative, is made up mainly of Christians and Jews. It will be a place for community celebration of the pluralism of the United States, a powerful symbol of religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

Third, the head of the project is a poster imam for the anti-radical, anti-terrorist campaign for the hearts, minds and soul of Muslims. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has been sent on numerous overseas speaking tours by the State Department, under both the Bush and Obama administrations, to preach new-age style peace, dialogue and coexistence. He has participated in events with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. He gave a moving eulogy at a Manhattan synagogue for Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter murdered by Islamic terrorists in Pakistan.

Finally, Imam Feisal is one of the leading public intellectuals of Sufism. Americans and Westerners would not confuse and conflate the different denominations of Christianity and brand all Protestants as actual or potential terrorists based on the acts of terrorism committed by a Catholic fringe in Northern Ireland or Orthodox Serbs in the Balkans. But they fall easily into the trap of viewing all Muslims as one frightening monolithic monster out to conquer or destroy everyone else.

Sufism, preaching love and reconciliation as part of the homage to God, is the most pluralistic, tolerant and mystical incarnation of Islam. Because it is antithetical to Wahabism, its adherents have been attacked by terrorists in Pakistan. The Data Darbar in Lahore, where 45 people were killed and another 175 wounded in a double suicide attack this July, is the largest Sufi shrine in Pakistan's second-largest city. Sufis should be the ideal partners and natural allies in exorcising Islamist extremism.

The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and other parts of News Corp. -- the extensive Rupert Murdoch media empire -- have been at the forefront of stoking Islamophobia. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal made use of unspecified reports that the project was being funded by Saudi charities or Gulf princes who also fund Wahabi madrassas (Islamic religious schools). It turns out that the second-largest shareholder of News Corp. is a member of the Saudi royal family. So, by the twisted logic of guilt by association, since the rise of Islamophobia in the West fuels the rise of jihadist sentiment among any Muslims, would it be fair to conclude that the Saudi-bankrolled News Corp. is an unwitting tool in the hands of Islamic radicals and terrorists or an effective recruiting sergeant for Osama bin Laden?

As Frank Rich argued in the New York Times, another cost of the controversy is that it undermines the difficult U.S. effort to counter the Islamists' narrative that Washington is at war with Islam. The right-wing politicians and commentariat, he argued, are fatally compromising the efforts of their beloved Gen. David Petraeus to reverse the tide of defeat in Afghanistan.

"How do you win Muslim hearts and minds in Kandahar when you are calling Muslims every filthy name in the book in New York," he asked?

Of course the 9/11 terrorists were Muslims who attacked in the name of Islam. But should extremists in a minority be allowed to hijack and defile a whole religion? Did not the innocent victims and the heroic rescuers of 9/11 reflect America in all its glorious diversity, including Muslims among both groups?

The jihadists might well interpret the construction of the cultural centre as a twisted victory over a morally enfeebled America no longer capable of defending its faith, principles and freedoms. Granted also that Saudi Arabia forbids the construction of religious monuments of other faiths. This is no reason for the greatness and genius of America that so many of us outsiders admire to stoop to setting its moral compass by the ethical and philosophical standards of terrorists and fundamentalists.

The controversy is a fight over the soul of America itself. To accept compromise would be to accept defeat of the American way of life and the triumph of bigotry, Islamophobia and fear-mongering.

The controversy calls for leadership from the White House that has been sadly missing. Having issued what appeared to be a firm defence of the right of American Muslims to practise their faith and build houses of worship on private property in lower Manhattan according to the laws of the land and bylaws of the city, just like any other religious group in the country, President Barack Obama backtracked the very next day in what has become a distressingly familiar fence-sitting trait.

He thereby fluffed a wonderful opportunity to counter the Republican Party's pandering to the worst fears and prejudices by summoning Americans' better angels.

Ramesh Thakur, a non-practising Hindu, is a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo and adjunct professor at the Institute of Ethics, Governance and Law at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.

Photo: Diane Bondareff, MCT