From NPR

The first images of the much-debated Islamic cultural center planned for Lower Manhattan show a gleaming white tower wrapped in a fine-spun lattice of concrete.

The project has been the subject of a nationwide debate, particularly among those who say the Islamic institution is planned too close to ground zero. But Sharif El-Gamal, the main developer of the contested project, known as Park51, says that as a Brooklyn-born Muslim he sees the project as an opportunity for the country to become stronger. And, he says, the first images released last week will highlight the project’s goals.

“Because of the national interest in the project, we felt that we should try to really educate people about what this project is all about and a picture speaks a thousand words, as they say,” El-Gamal told NPR’s Scott Simon.

The project will include much more than a mosque. El-Gamal says the nearly 120,000 square-foot center will include a Sept. 11, 2001, memorial, an athletic facility and other features. The facility, he says, is tailor-made for one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in New York state where there are “more strollers than briefcases.”

“All that we’re looking to do is provide a much-needed community center in Lower Manhattan,” he said.

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Turning Park51 Into a Teachable Moment: Curriculum Guide and Fact Sheets

The controversy surrounding the Park51 Cultural Center in lower Manhattan has been at the forefront of the media and the nation’s consciousness recently. Chances are, your students have encountered this issue and are thinking about it. And chances are this issue is going to reach your classroom this fall – especially around 9/11.

From Worldview/WBEZ 91.5

Imam Malik Mujahid hosts Friday prayers at several local mosques and is Executive Producer of the show Radio Islam. He’ll tell us about remembering 9/11 in the wake of growing Islamophobia and the floods in his native Pakistan. And on Global Activism, Gregory Gross, Clinical Manager at the Center on Halsted, talks with Jerome about his collaboration with Project Tariro, an HIV/AIDS prevention and support program in Zimbabwe.

Click here to listen to the interview.

From The Huffington Post

Liberals and conservatives have chosen sides over the Muslim community center near Ground Zero and plan to use the anniversary of September 11 as their battlefield. Abortion polemics are out; the debate over Islam is in. And so, come this Saturday, there will be two massive demonstrations: one protesting the Muslim community center near Ground Zero, and one supporting it and religious freedom. Every religious group in America, it seems, has chosen a side.

Instead of joining one side or the other, Rev. T.K. Nakagaki will host his annual memorial service for the dead. The service takes place at Pier 40, overlooking the Hudson River, at 6 PM. Everyone from both sides of this new conflict is invited to pray for the dead, all together.

The service is both Buddhist and interfaith. At its center is the traditional Obon ceremony for the dead, loosely translated as the Floating Lantern Ceremony. Rice paper lanterns are inscribed with the names of the dead, lit with candles, and floated out to sea (in this case the Hudson River, via the assistance of the New York Kayak Club). The United Sikhs, a social service Sikh group, will provide food as part of its spiritual practice.

Before the lanterns go out, a series of interfaith prayers will be led by the Interfaith Center of New York.

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From The Council on Foreign Relations

…Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf believes genuinely that, you know, religions evolve over time in America. And they evolve and they Americanize themselves through certain forms of institutions, and — just like the Jewish and the Christian communities evolved from just churches and, you know, places of worship and then went into places of service, such as the 96th Street Y, the YMCA or the JCC, Jewish Community Centers — that this inevitably would also happen to the Muslim community, that a Muslim community would Americanize itself over time by building these kinds of institutions.

And so a model that takes into consideration the needs of the Muslim community but also the needs of the broader community was the combination of what was the plan for the center.

Very simply, the center is to dedicate pluralism, which is the heart — which is at the heart of Islamic theology — and its service. But it’s also education and empowerment of our youth and empowerment of women, but also the appreciation of our (community ?) that has, you know — that is very diverse and very robust. So this is kind of like the core of what we were trying to do with the center.

The proximity to Ground Zero was never planned; just so happened that the building was in the neighborhood that we already are in. And so establishing the center in the very neighborhood that they were in was something that never really, you know, thought of the location as being close to Ground Zero. Because it was our neighborhood; it was our tragedy as much as it was anybody else’s tragedy.

As Muslims, as New Yorkers and as Americans, we feel that it’s part of our, you know, obligation and our responsibility to be part of building Lower Manhattan. And to another point, since this was done — 9/11 was done — in the name of our religion, we have an added responsibility to disprove those who have distorted our religion and our scripture.

The center is also meant to be part of the transformation against extremism, as it will combine the best of what it means to be Muslim and what it means to be American, whose core values we feel are totally compatible.

We also believe that the voices of the moderate, mainstream, majority Muslim has been drowned out by actions of the extremists — (audio break) — center like this will amplify the voices of moderate Muslims and give voice and be — simply be a blow to the extremists.

…

The center will have a prayer space. It will also have about six prongs of programmatic areas. It will have recreation, which means a swimming pool, gymnasium, have culture and arts exhibition space; performing arts — a theater which will be a 500-seat theater.

It will have social cohesion, which means booking classes and — kinds of weddings and party space. It will have education, so lectures, forums, classrooms. It will have religion. Religion is a lot of interfaith activities with the faith communities that we’ve been interacting with, sort of solidifying those programs into actionable programs.

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From The New York Times

AS my flight approached America last weekend, my mind circled back to the furor that has broken out over plans to build Cordoba House, a community center in Lower Manhattan.I have been away from home for two months, speaking abroad about cooperation among people from different religions. Every day, including the past two weeks spent representing my country on a State Department tour in the Middle East, I have been struck by how the controversy has riveted the attention of Americans, as well as nearly everyone I met in my travels.

We have all been awed by how inflamed and emotional the issue of the proposed community center has become. The level of attention reflects the degree to which people care about the very American values under debate: recognition of the rights of others, tolerance and freedom of worship.

Many people wondered why I did not speak out more, and sooner, about this project. I felt that it would not be right to comment from abroad. It would be better if I addressed these issues once I returned home to America, and after I could confer with leaders of other faiths who have been deliberating with us over this project. My life’s work has been focused on building bridges between religious groups and never has that been as important as it is now.

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