The Imam at the Center of Mosque Furor

[ThatPoetGuy]

He consistently denounces violence. Some of his views on the interplay between terrorism and American foreign policy — or his search for commonalities between Islamic law and this country’s Constitution — have proved jarring to some American ears, but still place him as pro-American within the Muslim world. He devotes himself to befriending Christians and Jews — so much, some Muslim Americans say, that he has lost touch with their own concerns.

“To stereotype him as an extremist is just nuts,” said the Very Rev. James P. Morton, the longtime dean of the Church of St. John the Divine, in Manhattan, who has known the family for decades.

Since 9/11, Mr. Abdul Rauf, like almost any Muslim leader with a public profile, has had to navigate the fraught path between those suspicious of Muslims and eager to brand them as violent or disloyal and a Muslim constituency that believes itself more than ever in need of forceful leaders.

One critique of the imam, said Omid Safi, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, was that he had not been outspoken enough on issues “near and dear to many Muslims,” like United States policy on Israel and treatment of Muslims after 9/11, “because of the need that he has had — whether taken upon himself or thrust upon him — to be the ‘American imam,’ to be the ‘New York imam,’ to be the ‘accommodationist imam.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/nyregion/22imam.html?_r=1

[kwassa]

1. Don't confuse us with facts.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. EXACTLY what I was going to post!!!!!

[scarletwoman]

3. Reccing with a kick to get this up the page - thanks for posting this.

[Terra Alta]

4. Right-wingers don't care

They don't care how peaceful he is, or how pro-America he is. They see the word "Muslim" and immediately label him as a terrorist.. it's sad, really. What these people need is more education, but they seem to want to keep their heads in the sand.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. kick and recommend!!

Now on youtube - Christiane Amanpour interviews Daisy Khan and Rabbi Joy Levitt

Daisy Khan is the wife of Imam Feisal. Rabbi Joy Levitt is from the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan


now on The DU Video Forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4513834&mesg_id=4513893

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE_XnmQRDPA

[tammywammy]

6. That's a great article. Recommended n/t

[Karenina]

7. According to msnbc... Go to 1:20

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/3677250#38806521

Is this defamation of character? Libel? Slander? A smear? Innuendo? ACTIONABLE??? :freak:

[Robbie88]

8. Thanks for posting this. K&R