RSS Feed MenuUnlike U.S. President Barack Obama who insists putting a mosque near the site of 9/11 is “legal” and not his concern, a leading Canadian Muslim has publicly attacked the proposal as inappropriate, insensitive and wrong.
Farzana Hassan lives in Toronto and is an astonishingly brave woman who has written three books since 9/11, putting Islam into perspective. She, along with Tarek Fatah, founder of the Canadian Muslim Congress (MCC), are among the few Muslims who speak out loudly and clearly against extremism.
Both have had death threats, both soldier on fearlessly and honestly.
They are proof that not all Muslims go along with what’s happening in the world today, although relatively few have spoken up about jihadist extremism which is what the war on terrorism is all about.
Considering the sort of reprisals extremists have taken against dissenters, one can hardly fault “moderate” Islamists for shutting up. The proposed $100 million, 13-storey Islamic Centre in the immediate area of New York’s Ground Zero is a case in point.
To most, it is an inappropriate site for a mosque, and if built will send the wrong message to the world. Not a message of tolerance and reconciliation, but one of Islamic triumph for extremists.
It is one thing for people like me to rant against it, another for someone of the Islamic faith to speak up. That takes both courage and integrity.
Farzana Hassan is also on the board of the MCC, and last week issued a press release that puts the Ground Zero Islamic Centre into perspective. She says the “traditional response” from the U.S. Muslim community has been “belligerence and arrogance.”
She urged Muslims to ponder the meaning of religious moderation and concludes: “Any Muslim who upholds Sharia, a man-made system of religious stipulations, cannot be deemed a moderate.” Bravo! Ontario’s McGuinty government which once considered Sharia acceptable, should take heed. U.S. courts, too.
Hassan questions the motives of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf for choosing Ground Zero for the Islamic Centre which will cater to Muslims of all persuasions. Imam Rauf is on record saying America was partly to blame for 9/11.
Hassan also notes that orthodox Islamic organizations and mosques receive funding from Saudi Arabia — from where the radical Wahabbi sect exports radical extremism and promotes Sharia law and the stoning of women.
She calls the proposed Islamic center “a Trojan Horse” in the heart of America that would constitute a cover for “formidable and hostile forces to gain credibility, respectability and influence.”
She argues: “Goodwill, compassion and empathy demand that (Imam Rauf) withdraw his plans to construct an Islamic centre near Ground Zero.” It would too easily — perhaps inevitably — become a public platform for radical Islamists. “These goons will use the venue to propagate their hate-filled agenda,” she says.
Instead, consider the sentiments of Americans who lost loved ones in the brutal, al-Qaeda attack nine years ago.
For those interested in a moderate Islamic assessment of contemporary events, go to averroespress.com, and see the continuing struggle on behalf of common sense by the likes of Tarek Fatah and Farzan Hassan – attacking the burka, jihadists, and those intent on waging a holy war against people who wish them no harm.
Farzana Hassan’s most recent book is Islam, Women and the Challenge of Today, while Tarek Fatah’s is Chasing a Mirage, the Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State. Both radiate courage and integrity that sets them apart from most of us.
jabbermule // Aug 18, 2010 at 11:38 pm
Carney // Aug 18, 2010 at 11:16 pm:
“It’s a nasty, dangerous world out there, and you identify your biggest threat, then work with as many others as you can to isolate and destroy him. Then you look around at who’s left, and lather, rinse, repeat.”
LOL – gotta love those shampoo metaphors.
drdredel // Aug 19, 2010 at 2:09 am
@jabbermule
You, sir, are a complete, unadulterated idiot.
I realize it’s frustrating to be incapable of arguing your point (or even having a point) and that this frustration leads us to random insults. I do like how you combine an attempt at politeness (your use of the term “sir” ) with the assertion that I am an idiot. It softens the blow a little. I appreciate that.
Now then. In spite of my mental deficiency I am fully prepared to defend my assertions, if you were to actually find fault with them. Seeing as how you haven’t, I am at a loss as to how to proceed.
You do make one comment, so, I guess I’ll address that…
How in the HELL were we supposed to anticipate that he would reward this assistance by plotting the worst terror attack on innocent civilians in history?
I didn’t say we should have anticipated it. See… there’s a difference between anticipating something and recognizing that it’s not entirely unexpected. I don’t anticipate that I’m going to be mugged in the street but when it happens I don’t drop my jaw to the ground and say “how is this POSSIBLE!?”
Similarly there’s a difference between the people in the twin towers “deserving” to die (clearly they didn’t, and in the brilliant words of Clint Eastwood “deserve’s got nothing to do with it”) and the recognition that for every interaction there have to be two parties and it is impossible for one of the parties to be 100% innocent. So, the question is simply who is guilty of what, and to what extent.
The reality (and it’s a really simple one) is that we play all sorts of very dangerous games with very dangerous characters across the years and across the seas. Sometimes these games end up biting us in the ass. I would argue that 9/11 can reasonably be explained this way.
I might be an idiot, but I’m an idiot that can draw you a pretty clear picture of how islamist fundamentalism has been, largely, created by the UK and the US. We’ve done a bang-up job of keeping various nations over the last 100 years divided and conquered and have supported no shortage of totalitarian despots who had no regard whatsoever for human life, as long as it was in our strategic or financial interests.
But again… I’m not saying that when we were making our various deals with the devil we could have predicted the exact nature of how it was going to backfire. But we could (and many did) recognize that when you play with fire long enough, eventually you’re going to get “burnt”.
@DeepSouth
When you show me how the statement you quoted (I have no idea what his actual statements were, I was simply quoting you) was in any way “very sick” or “odious”, rather than, seemingly “right on the money” (albeit, being that he’s Muslim, it would have been in his best interest to keep his mouth shut, so, he’s obviously not the best politician), I’ll gladly accept your characterization of my assertion.
Canadish » Blog Archive » Worthington Hails Canada’s Voice of Muslim Moderation // Aug 19, 2010 at 5:09 am
[...] Congress co-founder Farzana Hassan as the voice of Muslim moderation at his son-in-law’s Frum Forum. Hassan, who lives in Toronto, has been doing the rounds of US talk shows since the furore erupted [...]
British_Lefty // Aug 19, 2010 at 6:23 am
Turns out Dubya’s former Solicitor General, Ted Olson who also happens to be a 9/11 widower says the Mosque should be built there. Is he an idiot, PC, left wing commie, terrorist appeasing Muslim lover too?
sinz54 // Aug 19, 2010 at 10:13 am
British_Lefty: Turns out Dubya’s former Solicitor General, Ted Olson who also happens to be a 9/11 widower says the Mosque should be built there. Is he an idiot, PC, left wing commie, terrorist appeasing Muslim lover too?
No.
He’s a fascist warmongering neocon and a criminal who in 2000 stole the Presidential election from Al Gore.
You said so yourselves, remember?
And when President Bush had suggested Olson for Attorney General, the reaction from the Left was so negative that Bush gave up on that.
And so why should we care what someone as horrible as all that, says about anything?
Your faux nostalgia for conservatives whose guts you hated and whose reputations you did everything to smear, isn’t fooling anybody.
Next up: British_Lefty will quote the wisdom of Margaret Thatcher to us.
British_Lefty // Aug 19, 2010 at 11:39 am
“so why should we care what someone as horrible as all that, says about anything?”
Perhaps because he lost his wife in the WTC tragedy! Because we are constantly being told the families of 9/11 victims dont want this. There’s one that does.
“And when President Bush had suggested Olson for Attorney General, the reaction from the Left was so negative that Bush gave up on that.”
Exactly my point – hardly a left wing commie is he?
Margaret Thatcher hasn’t weighed in on this issue. Perhaps when she does I will quote her too… if she makes sense!
Slide // Aug 19, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Some more information about that terrorist sympathizing extremist that is trying to build a community center in Lower Manhattan:
In 2003, Imam Rauf was invited to speak at a memorial service for Daniel Pearl, the journalist murdered by Islamist terrorists in Pakistan. The service was held at B’nai Jeshurun, a prominent synagogue in Manhattan, and in the audience was Judea Pearl, Daniel Pearl’s father. In his remarks, Rauf identified absolutely with Pearl, and identified himself absolutely with the ethical tradition of Judaism. “I am a Jew,” he said.
There are those who would argue that these represent mere words, chosen carefully to appease a postentially suspicious audience. I would argue something different: That any Muslim imam who stands before a Jewish congregation and says, “I am a Jew,” is placing his life in danger. Remember, Islamists hate the people they consider apostates even more than they hate Christians and Jews. In other words, the man many commentators on the right assert is a terrorist-sympathizer placed himself in mortal peril in order to identify himself with Christians and Jews, and specifically with the most famous Jewish victim of Islamism.http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/ground-zero-imam-i-am-a-jew-i-have-always-been-one/61761/
and the right wing is attacking this guy as some extremist. Freakin amazing huh?
Rocketship7 // Aug 22, 2010 at 12:25 am
@ jabbermule
“2 planes into the Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca”Kill 3,000 people in the process
“-Wait several years, then have some unknown wealthy Western Christian investors propose building a ‘moderate’ Christian church ‘community center’ to promote ‘healing’ for this terrible act”
Wealthy investors are not allowed to build a church in Saudi Arabia, period. Regardless. THAT is the Islamic mindset that the left totally ignores.