WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says the imam leading plans for an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York is returning to the United States on Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner says Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has completed a Persian Gulf trip that was intended to promote religious tolerance. Rauf is departing the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, and will return to New York.
Toner says Rauf’s early return did not cause the cancellation of any programs on his State Department-funded trip.
Rauf said Tuesday that the controversy over the Islamic center in Manhattan is over more than “a piece of real estate” and could shape the future of Muslim relations in America.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The imam leading plans for an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York said Tuesday the fight is over more than “a piece of real estate” and could shape the future of Muslim relations in America.
The dispute “has expanded beyond a piece of real estate and expanded to Islam in America and what it means for America,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told a group that included professors and policy researchers in Dubai.
Rauf suggested that the fierce challenges to the planned mosque and community center in lower Manhattan could leave many Muslim questioning their place in American political and civic life.
But he avoided questions over whether an alternative site is possible. Instead, he repeatedly stressed the need to embrace the religious and political freedoms in the United States.
“I am happy to be American,” Rauf told about 200 people at the Dubai School of Government think tank.
It was his last scheduled public appearance during a 15-day State Department-funded trip to the Gulf that was intended to promote religious tolerance. He is scheduled to return to the United States later this week.
He said he became closer to Islam after moving to America, where he had the choice to either follow the faith or drift away.
“Like many of our fellow Muslims, we found our faith in America,” he said.
During his Middle East trip, Rauf has generally sidestepped questions over the backlash to the Islamic center location about two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center towers.
But in an interview published Monday in the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, he linked the protests to the U.S. elections in November. Many conservatives have joined the opposition to the center, which is being spearheaded by a newly formed nonprofit organization that includes real estate developers and has named Rauf as one of the directors.
“It is important to shift the discussion from a discussion of identity politics,” he said. “We have to elevate the discourse because there is more that bonds us … in terms of mutual responsibility.”
A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday showed 71 percent of New Yorkers want the developers to voluntarily move the project. A similar percentage also said they wanted New York’s state attorney general to investigate sources of funding for the project in lower Manhattan.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said an investigation would set “a terrible precedent.”
“You don‘t want them investigating donations to religious organizations and there’s no reason for the government to do so,” he said.
He also played down the fact that the developers of the building where the center would be established owe over $200,000 in back taxes on the property. “They’re going to be treated like everybody else,” he said. “We enforce the law against everybody, or we protect everybody. And if they owe money, they should pay it. and if they don’t, they don’t.”
The developers have said they are negotiating with the city to pay back the taxes.
Opponents of the center, which could include a swimming pool and a Sept. 11 memorial, have seized on the question of the project’s funding, raising concerns that the money will come from overseas extremists or anti-American sources.
U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Republican who is the ranking minority leader of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Tuesday that he disagreed with the mayor. He said the question of financing is fundamental to assessing the Islamic center project’s backers.
“A number of terror plots have emanated from mosques,” he said, citing the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center as one example.
Arrests of conspirators in the attack that killed six people and injured more than a thousand led FBI to a Brooklyn mosque, where core members of those involved in the 1993 plot worshipped and where Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman sometimes led prayers. Abdel-Rahman was later convicted in the bombing.
King said he would call for churches or synagogues to undergo the same kind of scrutiny of their finances if there was evidence that terrorist plots were originating from them.
Developers of the planned Islamic center have pledged to hire “security consultants” to review potential contributors. A spokesman for the developers didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment Tuesday.
It is common for the finances of religious groups to come under scrutiny either by the Internal Revenue Service, law enforcement or government agencies that protect consumers against fraud.
Religious nonprofits operate under a complex system of IRS rules on compensation, spending and governance. The IRS can revoke the nonprofit status of any group found to be violating the regulations.
Muslim charities have come under especially intense scrutiny under U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Federal prosecutors have brought cases against several American-based Muslim nonprofits, and in a separate case last year, seized U.S. mosques whose property is owned by a foundation federal officials say is secretly controlled by the Iranian government.
___
Associated Press Religion Writer Rachel Zoll and Associated Press Reporters Sara Kugler Frazier and Cristian Salazar contributed to this report from New York City.
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Promotefreedom
Posted on September 9, 2010 at 10:52amIt is not only about where the money is coming from to build it. It is where the mosque will send fund-raised money to, after it is built. Hamas is a popular one.
Report Post »Gigantopithecus
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 2:02pmTime to pull this puke’s citizenship and this time make it a one-way ticket to the Middle East.
Report Post »Justme22
Posted on September 6, 2010 at 6:00pmOH.. give me a break !
Report Post »we know why you are happy… because you have the Oval Office in your back pocket !!
Gonzo
Posted on September 6, 2010 at 9:13amYea? Well, we aren’t so happy to have you!
Report Post »Suzanne Winter
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 9:41pmImam Feisal Meets With UAE Mosque and Money Crowd
August 31, 2010 – by Claudia Rosett
As the imam behind the Ground Zero mosque project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, continues his State Department-hosted “public diplomacy” visit to the United Arab Emirates, the glimpses of his activities over there get ever more interesting. Back home, Americans are now reading the Bergen Record’s dispatches on Rauf’s history as a New Jersey landlord with a tangled financial trail and angry tenants registering recurring complaints about his premises, listing such items as infestations of cockroaches and rats, piles of unremoved trash and “filthy halls.” Meanwhile, in the UAE, U.S. State Department officials have been squiring Rauf around on the final leg of his taxpayer-funded $16,000 swing through the Middle East (that tab includes an allowance of $496 per day to keep him comfortable in Abu Dhabi).
And the U.S. Embassy in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi has now posted on its web site a bulletin dated Aug. 30, making brief mention of some of Rauf’s meetings since he arrived a few days ago — you can find it here, complete with a photo of Rauf at a flower-bedecked banquet table in Abu Dhabi.
Rauf’s UAE pow-wows have included a meeting with “religious officials” at the “General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments.” What, exactly, is this outfit? According to an Abu Dhabi government web site, it’s an “independent legal entity” created under UAE federal law, which engages in activities such as “supervision of mosques” and “investment of the endowment to develop the society.” Among other things, this Islamic Affairs and Endowments authority solicits and directs funds for building and refurbishing mosques.
But we can rest assured that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, currently in need of $100 million or more for his Ground Zero mosque and Islamic center, is not fund-raising while on his taxpayer-bankrolled, U.S. government-hosted tour. The State Department has assured us he would never do that.
More at link: http://pajamasmedia.com/claudiarosett/imam-feisal-meets-with-uae-mosque-and-money-crowd/
Report Post »Pewpshewt
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 10:56amFox news owned by Muslims who donate to possible terrorist causes. Fox News, that’s right FOX NEWS probably your favorite news source is owned not by Americans but by foriegn sources.
We’ve all heard of Rupert Murdoch and it is no secret that Rupert is not an American, he’s from and is a citizen of the Asia Pacific nation of Australia and his business partner in Fox News is Alwaleed bin Talal a Saudi Arab and we all know that the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi’s.
Stunned yet? Theres more! Republican consultant and advisor Dan Senor who also was in charge of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq under the Bush administration points out that Alwaleed bin Talal who has supported the imam behind a planned Muslim community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan Senor stated that Talal “funds radical madrasas all over the world.”
Where does Alwaleed bin Talal get his money for this? From Fox News and its advertisers one of them being Goldline! Watching Fox News and buying from Goldline gives financial support to the same Muslim radical madrasas that are likely starting points for the same muslims that attack our troops.
Support America and help fight the Radical Muslims that attack us! Stop Watching Fox News!
Gigantopithecus
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 5:06pmLAME – more lies and deception from the Little Libturds – so what else is new.
Report Post »Suzanne Winter
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 9:43pmDo Anthony Weiner and Media Matters pay you by the word or by the post?
Report Post »JeffW65
Posted on September 8, 2010 at 2:05amMurdoch was born in Australia and WAS an Australian citizen. In 1985 he LEGALLY became an American citizen and lost his Australian citizenship.
I’m still waiting to see if we will find out who is behind the mosque funding. I see nobody showing facts that Talal is funding them or any “radical” madrasas anywhere.
As to where he gets his money. The man is filthy rich on his own. He has interests in many corporations.
Report Post »Get2dchoppah
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 9:30amI saw 9/11 from Washington Rock State Park in NJ. By the time I got there the Twin Towers were gone. You could previously see them from various places in northern NJ. I’m sorry, I cannot trust or accept Islam, ever.
Report Post »blessings
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 8:25am“But a London-based Arabic-language newspaper that interviewed Abdul Rauf reported that he said he would also collect money from Muslim and Arab nations around the world — raising the possibility that the American government is helping him build contacts in oil-rich states.”
Thank you ‘10RIGHTS’ and here’s the link to the article in the NYPost:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/hamas_nod_for_gz_mosque_cSohH9eha8sNZMTDz0VVPI
Obama catches holy hell. . . Hammered for hedging
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/catches_holy_hell_CfvASYaOMVNnfml7uaWwdN
“Have to Build It” ?
Report Post »I think: ” This just doesn‘t pass the ’sniff test’…”
10rights
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 5:34amFYI…8/16/10 New York Post article by S.A. Miller and Tom Topousis, “Hamas nod for Ground Zero mosque, Terror group’s leader, ‘Have to build it’ “…Read the entire article and then think what you will…
bjriverspeters
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 5:01amI don’t doubt the sincerity of this particular American born Imam in his oft repeated desire to bring healing between our nation and Islam. I believe what he desires is unobtainable however. Here’s a very short quote from a book he authored:
“We strive for a ”New Cordoba,” a time when Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all other faith traditions will live together in peace, enjoying a renewed vision of what the good society can look like. In this good society all religious voices are welcome and given maximum freedom, and NO ONE RELIGION (or even atheism) IS ALLOWED TO INHIBIT ANY OTHER. (BJ’s note: I’m guessing refusing to allow the dictates & “justice” of Sharia law is included in the thought of inhibiting the practice of Islam) Toward this dream we aspire.” Source: “What‘s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America”, by Feisal Abdul Rauf, pub 2004, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc, NY
He mentions in the book how a government should allow justice to be administered according to the religious-judicial dictates of those involved in a court case. I remember hearing recently of (I think it was in NJ) a judge that did just that regarding a husband being tried for repeatedly raping his wife. Even if we disregard the seeming insensitivity of those who would choose to build a mosque so close Ground Zero, how can we hope to become one people when there are those who desire to have their own system of justice in our land?
Report Post »Perseus
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 6:06amOut of many one? Blind justice? All equal under the same law?
We’ll see how long it takes before we have a different justice system for different groups?
Report Post »bjriverspeters
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 6:33amI BELIEVE I understand your comment Perseus. With the movement toward our courts doling out social justice, we‘ve already seen less than a balanced scale of justice in some of our nation’s courts. Perhaps a more accurate statue of Justice needs to be created and placed in anticipation of the hoped for majority of Social Justice judges on the Supreme Court. Her blindfold should be shown to have slipped slightly beneath one eye, and she would appear to be nine months pregnant.
Report Post »tepartyblogdotinfo
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 7:35amThank you for an honest objection based in fact.
Report Post »ssommers
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 4:29ami completely agree with lunar! i think that these people are showing little to no guilt for this! if i belonged to a group which had guys killing innocent people i would feel it my duty to apologize for them EVEN THOUGH IT WASN’T MY FAULT! however, as americans we always have the push over liberals who say “oh its ok! we know you bombed us but its ok! lets accept you anyways! : ) you wouldn’t possibly do it again!” sure in a perfect world it would be nice to just accept everyone even if they were different, however we dont live in that world, i dont trust Muslims! and unless they do something BIG that isnt going to change! and the idea of building a mosque that close to where everything all those years ago is just proof that they are ******* in our face, and you liberals are just loving it! it sickens me!
LesterWillox
Posted on September 3, 2010 at 7:13amMr. Ssommers, I agree with you on behalf of the mosque.
That being said, part of what you’re saying I find hypocritical. What I mean is this part (and I quote:)
” think that these people are showing little to no guilt for this! if i belonged to a group which had guys killing innocent people i would feel it my duty to apologize for them EVEN THOUGH IT WASN’T MY FAULT!”
When did you last apologize to a native american, of whom many still live in squalor and desolation? When did you last apologize to the Vietnamese, to the Iraqis? Innocent people have died in Vietnam by our hand, and innocent people are still dying in Iraq. Not everyone was a Viet Cong back then, not everyone is a terrorist now. Most who fall prey to american shells and bullets are totally innocent people, just trying to live a life in a warzone with no option to leave. Guilt by association is not a good thing and it leads down a bad path.
I am sorry for my breakout, Mr. Ssommers and I mean no disrespect, but PLEASE think about what you write.
Sincerely,
L. Willox
Report Post »Lunar
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 2:47amYes and CBS 60 minutes has a truth beam that discerns all within it’s gaze to be fact or fiction.
lets play a game, were gonna need pixie dust and Santa Clause needs to be present because were going into make believe land, where your house is.
Lets assume it’s just this guy. It’s not, anyone whose been watching all the news knows it.
From this interview
Pelley: Did it occur to you when you were putting this together that that was two blocks too close to a place that many, many people feel very strongly about?
El-Gamal: Not at all. It did not even cross my mind once.
Pelley: Why not?
El-Gamal: Because I did not hold myself or my faith accountable for that tragedy.
It took this real estate guy 8 years to get the permit, why ? Not because it‘s hard it’s cause he’s a Idiot. How can you not attach muslims even peaceful to the tragedy. Osama bin laden, the man who set it up identifies himself as a member of your faith. If your not in his version of that faith, lets hear some loud long cries of how that was a horrible event and extremist muslims are evil.
Never going to happen because its a web of lies. If this is all above board then do it that way. We want your people and your religion here because it adds the flavour of life that is America. These people are here to twist the knife and spit in our faces.
TotallyBelievableGuy
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 1:45amReally? This debate is still going on?
I thought after some sosiopath sliced up a muslim cab driver that you’d just give it up, but then, I forget you’re a bunch of shameless bigots, you people don’t know when to stop.
Cyndy
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 1:55amPraying for you…
TotallyBelievableGuy
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 2:09amAwh, that’s so nice.
Report Post »just a thought2
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 2:10amHe won’t denounce Hamas.
Says he’s not a politician.
I just thought being a religious man, it would be a moral question. Not a political one. Basic question: Is it right to kill another human being because they are not Muslim.
But we’re just suppose to trust him?
Report Post »MagCynic
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 6:42amHe‘s simply saying the imam won’t denounce Hamas, not necessarily that he’s being funded by Hamas.
Report Post »tepartyblogdotinfo
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 7:48am@TotallyBelievableGuy
Report Post »First to post and clearly an agitator. How many made up accounts do you have on this site? Whats your real motivation for being here? I doubt it is to have an honest debate about the subject but in the off chance that your are; I have to say that we likely agree that yes all religions should have a equal chance to represent themselves but, the question at the forefront of this debate is does this Imam have any moral or spiritual obligation to be sensitive to the people of new york and the families of the men and women who have been attacked by Radical Islam.