Not Tolerance: Trust -- Cordoba Initiative, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, and Primary Commentary

What schoolchild does not know this: "In public, say what you mean, mean what you say, and sustain the same in private"?

Corollary: Tell the truth.

In some quarters of Islam, perhaps under the guise of a greater goal--the pursuit of religious hegemony for instance--deceit and treachery may be lauded and in too many circumstance such concepts as "taysir" and "taqqiyah"--justified lying for comfort, for safety--may be invoked.

The one thing accomplished by deceitful and disingenuous speech from any quarter--I am non-denominational in this--is the preservation of the archaic, barbaric, and medieval in modern life.

We need to be done with it.

The Cordoba Initiative, which features a most progressive staff, may want to frame the issue it has stimulated as one essentially revolving around tolerance by claiming that it has essentially promoted a community center with an Islamic atmosphere that has drawn the opposition of bigots; however, in the larger scheme that clerics necessarily represent as signal of holy revelation and its injunctions, the inescapable and overarching issue has become in New York City what it has been elsewhere in the world where internecine Islamic violence has appeared, i.e., a matter of the cultivation of trust and confidence in leading clerical authorities and their minions.

In the following articles, look out, thematically, for the appearance of the dark mirrors of language--reflection of responsibility, projection of evil on to the good, omission of the discomfitting--and the double stories that contribute mightily to driving conflict at every appearance of the Islamic Small Wars.

Had the Cordoba Initiative been concieved and led by its lay constituency, the tolerance argument would hold, for we polyglot Americans have common vested interests that we defend for one another; however, the initiative seems to have stemmed from a cleric whose agenda has been clouded by his own words as well as fate.

Here then are leads to other and better writers on the Cordoba Initiative and the character in alliance, experience, history, and speech of its founder Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf.  I've included defenses as well, the better to separate the issue of tolerance, which I think a false wall or non-issue, from the true recurring and dismal impediment to producing enthusiasm for the Cordoba Initiative: public trust.

Note: I may update this page without noting the entry mark for added reference.

Reference

 

Adnan, Osman.  "A loyal Muslim American laments the mosque mess: In Middletown, N.J., we do bar mitzvahs, Christmas parties and 9/11 memorials as a community.  Am I now the enemy?"  Salon, August 19, 2010: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/08/19/patriotic_muslim_american_on_the_mosque_mess/index.html

Alfonsi, Sharyn and Enjoli Francis.  "N.Y> Mosque Imam's Words Get Closer Look by Critics: While Leader of Planned Center is in Mideast, Statements on Islam Probed."  ABC News, August 23, 2010: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/ny-mosque-imams-words-closer-examination/story?id=11460873

Catan, Thomas.  "Mosque Planner Says Opposition Goes 'Beyond Islamophobia'."  The Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2010: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589804575445671238186074.html

Elhadj, Elie.  "Open letter to Imam Faisal regarding Ground Zero mosque."  Blitz, August 20, 2010: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/944/open-letter-to-imam-faisal-regarding-ground-zero

Friedman, Thomas L.  "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise."  Op-Ed.  The New York Times, August 21, 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/opinion/22friedman.html

Goldberg, Jeffrey.  "If He Could, Bin Laden Would Bomb the Cordoba Initiative."  The Atlantic, August 3, 2010: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/08/if-he-could-bin-laden-would-bomb-the-cordoba-initiative/60833/

Hitchen, Christopher.  "A Test of Tolerance: The "Ground Zero mosque" debate is about tolerance--and a whole lot more." Slate, August 23, 2010: http://www.slate.com/id/2264770/

IPT News.  "Rauf Lecture Reveals Radicalism."  August 23, 2010: http://www.investigativeproject.org/2121/rauf-lecture-reveals-radicalism

IPT News.  "The Ground Zero Mosque's Muslim Opponents."  August 25, 2010: http://www.investigativeproject.org/2131/the-ground-zero-mosques-muslim-opponents

Lappen, Alyssa A.  "Rauf's Muslim Brotherhood Roads to Malaysia."  August 21, 2010: http://www.alyssaalappen.org/2010/08/21/raufs-muslim-brotherhood-roads-to-malaysia/

Mattera, Jason.  "Ground Zero Imam Says U.S. Worse than al-Qaeda."  Human Events, August 23, 2010: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38673

Manji, Irshad.  "A Muslim Reformer on the Mosque: The warriors for tolerance and the antimosque crusaders are both wrong."  The Wall Street Journal: August 26, 2010: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451433090488678.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Moore, Art.  "'Son of Hamas' warns U.S. fatally falling for lies: 'Peaceful' Muslims following Quran's dictate to establish 'global Islamic state."  World Net Daily, August 25, 2010: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=194989

Pareene, Alex.  "Heroes, villains and cowards of the so-called "ground zero mosque."  Salon, August 19, 2010: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=%2Fpolitics%2Fwar_room%2F2010%2F08%2F19%2Fheroes_villains_ground_zero_mosque

Raw Story.  "Fox News shareholder funded 'Ground Zero mosque' imam: report."  August 21, 2010:  http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0821/fox-shareholder-funded-mosque-imam/

YouTube poster "atlasshrugs2000".  "EXCLUSIVE: Imam Rauf Exposed: "America Has Muslim Blood on Its Hands, N**word, Suicide Bombers."  Posted August 23, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awISCKJzVtE