« National Council of Churches 'Calls for the tolerant to be even more tolerant of the intolerant' | Main | Re: Infiltration and Alinskyite Subversion Inside the American Catholic Church »

August 17, 2010

The Beginning of the End of the Ground Zero Mosque?

Topics: Political News and commentaries

Over at the Weekly Standard's blog (via Andy McCarthy), Bill Kristol highlights a remarkable column by Abdul Rahman al-Rashid that he suggests should lead even liberals to throw in the towel on the placing of a mega-mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero. As Krystol points out, al-Rashid is the left-leaning director of al-Arabiya TV and former editor of London's Arab daily, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat - in other words, this guy is no neocon. But his practical case against building the mosque is irrefutable.

Here's the portion of Al-Rashid's comments that Krystol points out (from MEMRI):

"I cannot imagine that Muslims want a mosque on this particular site, because it will be turned into an arena for promoters of hatred, and a symbol of those who committed the crime. At the same time, there are no practicing Muslims in the district who need a place of worship, because it is indeed a commercial district....The last thing Muslims want today is to build just a religious center out of defiance to the others, or a symbolic mosque that people visit as a museum next to a cemetery....[T]he battle against the 11 September terrorists is a Muslim battle...and this battle still is ablaze in more than 20 Muslim countries. Some Muslims will consider that building a mosque on this site immortalizes and commemorates what was done by the terrorists who committed their crime in the name of Islam. I do not think that the majority of Muslims want to build a symbol or a worship place that tomorrow might become a place about which the terrorists and their Muslim followers boast, and which will become a shrine for Islam haters whose aim is to turn the public opinion against Islam."

Interestingly, Al-Rashid's article is titled "A House of Worship or a Symbol of Destruction?" Part of the article that Krystol didn't address further stresses the point:

What the US citizens do not understand is that the battle against the 11 September terrorists is a Muslim battle, and not theirs, and this battle still is ablaze in more than 20 Muslim countries. Some Muslims will consider that building a mosque on this site immortalizes and commemorates what was done by the terrorists who committed their crime in the name of Islam. I do not think that the majority of Muslims want to build a symbol or a worship place that tomorrow might become a place about which the terrorists and their Muslim followers boast, and which will become a shrine for Islam haters whose aim is to turn the public opinion against Islam. This is what has started to happen now; they claim that there is a mosque being built over the corpses of 3,000 killed US citizens, who were buried alive by people chanting God is great, which is the same call that will be heard from the mosque.

It is the wrong battle, because originally there was no mosque in order to rebuild it, and there are no practicing Muslims who want a place in which to worship.

Is this evidence of a widening crack? Does this suggest that Krystol is right in saying, "This will be over soon. There will be no thirteen-story mosque near Ground Zero"?

If this doesn't represent the beginning of the end, it sure does point to the beginning of the beginning of the end. There will be no GZ mosque - as long as Americans keep raising hell about it.

Posted by Richard at August 17, 2010 12:32 PM

Articles Related to Political News and commentaries:

• The Beginning of the End of the Ground Zero Mosque? - Aug 17, 2010