Sufism Aside

By Ryan Miller, *“Ground Zero Mosque” Part 1 – Why terrorists will want to blow it up* - Conducive Chronicle - New York, NY, USA Tuesday, September 14, 2010

This is the topic of a very heated debate today. Over the next few days I will look at the facts of the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque.”
The actual facts about what will be practiced at Park51 will surprise you, and will make it a target for Al Qaeda.

Park51 aka “Ground Zero Mosque,” was proposed at a voluntary appearance at a meeting of Community Board 1, the largely advisory body that represents the neighborhood in Lower Manhattan on May 5, 2010 by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Abdul Rauf is the Imam of a Mosque in the Financial District that practices Sufi Islam. Park51 is proposed to be two blocks from ground zero in a former Burlington Coat Factory building.

My first thought about this is that it is not AT ground zero as most suggest. It is two blocks away and cannot be seen from Ground Zero, but is this insensitive to the victims of 9/11? OK, I will agree that in theory it is not the best location for such a place to be.

Who is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and what is Sufi Islam?

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a Muslim author and leader from Egypt who has been praised for his works to bridge the gap between the West and the Muslim world. Abdul Rauf is also a former George W. Bush advisor who went on speaking tours for the president after 9/11. He has written books such as “What’s Right with Islam is What’s Right with America.”

Abdul Rauf practices Sufism, aka Sufi Islam. Sufism follows a liberal interpretation of the Quran. If Islamic extremists views can be traced back to the Quran at all it would be said that they have a very strict, yet incorrect, view of the Quran.

Al Qaeda routinely bomb Sufis during their daily prayers. Look up on Google News ‘Sufi bombing,’ you will be brought to footage and news stories of countless suicide bombings by Al Qaeda on Islamic Sufis.

Al Qaeda Terrorists condemn Sufis for praying at the graves of Muslim saints. They believe it represents a deviation from strict monotheism, which too closely resembles the Christian worship of Jesus. So they strap on bombs, get down in the middle of peaceful praying Muslims and blow everyone up.

The more people that accept forms of Sufism there will be less people who accept terrorist extremism. They are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, thus endangering Al Qaeda.
Imam Abdul Rauf, the leader of Park51 practices a view of a religion that Al Qaeda routinely kills people who follow.

I have heard this mosque called a ‘Victory Mosque’ for Al Qaeda. If Al Qaeda wants to kill the people who will worship there that’s like calling the new Lutheran Church down the block a Victory Mosque for Al Qaeda, they want to kill everyone in there also.

Sufism aside, we must all realize that as President Obama put it on Saturday, “we are not, and will never be, at war with Islam.” Then 19 men who attacked us 9 years ago were extremists. There is not one Muslim that will tell you that those terrorists were ‘typical Muslims.’

This mosque is more likely to get bombed than to be a breeding ground for Al Qaeda.

In Part 2 [see next post, above (ed.)], we will look at hypocrites, racists, the 1st Amendment, and what I saw in DC on 9/11.