“Never will the Jews be pleased with you, nor the Christians, unless you follow their creed. Say, Indeed it is the guidance of Allah which is the (true) guidance.” And should you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you will not have against Allah any guardian, nor any helper.” (Qur’an 2:120)
The above aya of the Qur’an should be understood in the context of those ideologically identified “Jews” and “Christians” who seek to impose their imperialist worldviews. And who will not rest in their attacks on Islam and Muslims, until and unless Muslims give up our Islam, and adopt their ideology. Repeatedly some Muslims have attempted to appease the imperialists, be it through their cookie cutter condemnations, or by becoming “moderate” “liberal” “progressive” type of a Muslim. These Muslims have still not learnt a very basic lesson of the Qur’an – that attempting to appease the oppressor will only lead to an increase in their act of oppression. Attempting to “fit in” by acting in concert with the FBI, or becoming a US State Department’s token “good Muslim” spokesperson a la Feisal Abdul Rauf (the individual who is heading up the so-called “ground zero” mosque) will end up backfiring. As Ali Abunimah said: “If the State Department could design a Muslim it would be someone like Rauf.”
We now see that for all of his attempts at becoming part of the US establishment, Feisal Abdul Rauf and his project have been vilified not only by the extreme Right but also by many so-called “liberals.” Abdul Rauf has been repeatedly sent to Muslim majority countries, by the US state department, to represent the United States, and to sing laurels of how wonderful the US supposedly is for Muslims. But, now, he has been abandoned by his benefactors.
What should be done now? Any mosque that might be still be built at that site will be forever beholden to the US establishment, and will not be able to raise issues of urgent importance to Muslims – including but not limited to Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, attacks on Pakistan, Iran and other travesties. As such, it is, in my view, now pointless to insist on going ahead with that project. The weak attitude of Feisal Abdul Rauf would not have benefitted Muslims in any case.
As the Ikhras blog correctly noted:
Mark my words: the ground zero mosque will be a breeding ground for ikhras-worthy events. Muslims will host US presidents, US National Security Advisers and other such war criminals there. Friday sermons will consistently fail to criticize US foreign policy. Muslim-American soldiers will pray there before getting deployed to participate in the empire’s crimes abroad. Groups like “Seeds of Peace” will use the mosque as a site to engage in useless negotiations between Zionists and Palestinians. The FBI and DHS will hold sessions to learn “Muslim culture” to look more politically correct when detaining and deporting Muslims
The center would have cost about a $100 million (according to estimates floating around) – this $$$ can instead be put to much better use. Lets take Feisal Abdul Rauf’s intentions at face value:
“bringing back the atmosphere of interfaith tolerance and respect that we have longed for since Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony and prosperity eight hundred years ago.”
OK, so here’s a proposal sell off that building, land etc. and build three or four centers that would work towards south – south solidarity (plenty of Muslims, Christians, Jews around ). Build centers in Tehran, Beirut, Caracas, La Paz, Gaza and maybe also Quito, Havana, Damascus, and Istanbul – where we would see cultural and faith exchanges. Such a project would go a lot further in developing real ties amongst diverse peoples, instead of a center that would cater to the US state department.
see also:
Feisal Abdul Rauf (and other moderate Muslims) and the Zionists
Park 51 lessons
Ikhras on Abdul Rauf’s statement ” I support the state of Israel”
