The following is a NY Daily News article published on July 23rd, written by Edward E. Curtis, editor of the “Encyclopaedia of Muslim-American History.” The article highlights an oft-ignored part of the greater discussion rampant today in the United States, specifically New York, regarding the role of Muslim Americans in American society at large and within the individual communities: their own history as Americans. While painted in a nice shade of “The Other,” Muslim Americans in NYC, in particular, find their roots as a community all the way back to the late 1800s. As a fellow Kabober mentioned, there should not be a prioritization of the ‘perceived needs of the 9/11 victims over another segment of the American population.’ To do so is to designate one group as being more “American” than the other.
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Rick Lazio, the gubernatorial candidate from Suffolk County, doesn’t like it. Sarah Palin, though not exactly a New Yorker, has resoundingly “refudiated” it. More importantly, plenty of ordinary citizens vocally oppose the establishment of a Muslim community center and mosque near the World Trade Center site.
But no matter how offensive their presence may be to some people, Muslims have always been a part of lower Manhattan’s past. In fact, Islam in New York began near Ground Zero. From an historical perspective, there could hardly be a better place for a mosque.
One of the first Arab-American enclaves in New York City was located on Washington St. in lower Manhattan – the very area in which the World Trade Center was later built. Founded by Arabic-speaking Christians and Muslims from Ottoman Syria in the 1880s, it was called Little Syria.
The heart of Little Syria was full of outdoor cafes where non-Arab visitors sometimes gawked at men smoking hookahs and trading gossip about the Ottoman Empire. In a 1903 article, the New York Times called the neighborhood “quaint,” noting the “uniform politeness” of its inhabitants.
Lower Manhattan is also the final resting place of Muslims and other Africans, often slaves, who were forcibly resettled in New York when it was still New Amsterdam. The African Burial Ground, discovered in 1991, is six blocks away from the proposed Muslim community center. Scholars continue to debate the religious identity of the hundreds buried there, but the fact that some of the dead wore shrouds and were interred with strings of blue beads, frequently used as Islamic talismans, suggests Muslim were among the enslaved people who helped build Manhattan into a bustling city.
Of course, this history of Islam in lower Manhattan means little to the families of 9/11 victims who are protesting the proposed center. Far more troubling than their protest is how readily some political groups have used this issue to advance their own anti-Muslim agendas. Comments by Lazio and Palin are mere drops in an ocean of right-wing vitriol. In one outright lie, the Web site of the National Republican Trust has declared that the organizers of the mosque “intend to erect a shrine to the 9/11 terrorists.”
Rhetoric that treats Muslim-Americans like hostile foreigners fundamentally – and intentionally – skews the story of New York and its Muslim community.
For most of American history, Muslims have come to New York seeking freedom and opportunity – like every other group of immigrants. In 1847, for example, sailor and slave Mahommah Baquaqua escaped from the Brazilian ship Lembranca, docked in Manhattan. He went on to co-write one of most important African-American memoirs of the 1800s. “The Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua” poignantly describes the moment when, confined to a cell in the bow of his ship, Baquaqua broke down the door, bowed to his master’s wife, and ran away. Once on the docks, he managed to utter the only English word he knew: “free.” What could be more quintessentially American than that?
Muslims in New York have also embraced the city’s belief in freedom of religion. In 1893, John Lant, a white convert to Islam, performed what was celebrated as the city’s first public adhan, or call to prayer, from a third-floor window in Union Square. “The melodious call of the Muezzin,” the Times deemed it.
Today, more than half a million Muslims live in New York City, including 10% of all public school children. According to one informed estimate, there are roughly 1,000 Muslim officers in the NYPD.
Their historical birthplace is near Ground Zero. Trying to prevent them from building a community center there denies their stake not only in New York’s history but in its future, too.
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- A Proposal for a New Month of Remembrance
It is hard to believe that this was allowed to be published in the NY Daily News. Maybe I'm too cynical, but it leaves me wondering what the agenda is. Perhaps they think the Muslim center would be a better focal point for anti-Muslim hysteria if it goes through than if it is blocked. Or maybe for once the hysteria has gone so far beyond the Pale that even committed Zionists like Mike Bloomberg are speaking out against it. All the same it is puzzling and surprising.
Posted by Sean2009 | August 6, 2010, 12:55 amI love Muslims and I am not against Islam or anything . . . but don't you think that building a mosque right there isn't the best possible place?
Let's be honest: Muslims and Non-Muslims died in the twin towers. We get that. But maybe the location may not be the best one. Disregarding what Sarah Moron Palin and others have said, I'm all for Freedom of Religion, but maybe a different location, one not on the self-same spot would be more appropriate, instead of a place were hundreds of people died. It's like Japanese Buddhists building a Temple in Pearl Harbor, despite the fact that hundreds of Japanese lived in Hawaii, near the same place that other Japanese did what they did in December of 1941.
But then again, how close is the mosque going to be to Ground Zero? Is it like a block away or is it right on Ground Zero??? I'm a bit confused, but maybe that too should be taken into consideration by the people saying NO NO NO to the mosque.
Posted by Sam | August 7, 2010, 1:31 pmI posted a few points about the Islamic Center here:
http://www.monotheizm.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=39&a…
Posted by jamal | August 7, 2010, 7:51 pmI a am not too crazy about the new mosque….I do disagree with your reasoning. I am thinking that theses guys are not really building for worship only….as it seems to be a giant complex that will be making a statement. My thing is this, if the Muslims in NY need a mosque, they ought to be able to build one wherever they choose, but if few want to make a statement, I disagree with it. Get ready for different Muslims groups who will have internal fights about who gets to run it….like the one mosque here in DC where there are different groups still till this day fight over it. My opposition to it not about 9/11 or the location….they should be no different than anyone else for that matter. If the locals really want it to pray, be it. My two cents anyway.
Posted by Hanitizer | August 7, 2010, 6:55 pmQuote: "Muslims in New York have also embraced the city’s belief in freedom of religion". I seriously doubt that. Muslims never change. It is just a matter of numbers. Look at Islamic societies and see how they practice freedom of religion, separation of state and religion and state, equality, freedom of expression and human rights.
Yes, Muslims can build their temple to their god and preach the gospel of Mohammad near Ground Zero – it is their right under American law.
This, however, is not about "Religious Freedom", it is about respect for others and their feelings. There is religious freedom in America, unlike in Muslim countries where all non-Muslims and even certain sects of Islam are discriminated against. The building of a mosque (or "activity center") is about arrogance and contempt for non-Muslims and the families that died in the tragedy.
But what do Muslims care about except their own feelings. Muslims kill Muslims by the hundreds every month in mosques, markets, hotels, schools and weddings and it doesn't bother them. Muslim countries discriminate against non-Muslims and this doesn’t bother them. Muslims celebrate a man that attacked dozens of cities, villages and caravans – and that doesn't bother them. Muslims worship a god that delights in torture and that doesn't bother them. Why should Muslims care what Americans think about this? Anyway, so for now on I don't want to hear Muslims whining about "respecting" others or being sensitive to their "feelings".
Kactuz
Posted by Jay Kactuz | August 14, 2010, 7:21 pmGeorge Michael looks as though he night go down (lol!) because of driving about stoned. Hey, is this a threat or a promise? It’d be like putting most men with a harem! Lol!
Posted by Barry Smith | August 25, 2010, 8:56 am