“We stand for the constitutional right of Muslims, and Americans of all faiths, to build houses of worship anywhere in our nation as allowed by local laws and regulations,” the Muslim leaders said in a statement delivered at the site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque, to be called Park51.
They called for a “week of dialogue” on the weekend of Oct. 22-24, during which Muslims would conduct open houses at their places of worship to help ease tensions.
“We ask Muslims to open mosques nationwide to welcome people, to let them understand the Islamic faith and what American Muslim community is,” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations. “We also urge Muslims to visit places of worship in other faith communities.”
The Muslim leaders spoke after a daylong summit meeting Sunday at a hotel near Kennedy Airport.
The 20 groups participating in the summit included the Council on Islamic-American Relations and the Islamic Society of North America, the two best-known U.S. Muslim groups, as well as the Islamic Circle of North America and the Muslim Alliance in North America.
Neither the developer of the Islamic center nor its imam attended the news conference, though developer Sharif El-Gamal attended the summit. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Rauf welcomed the Muslim leaders’ support in a statement.
“I welcome the support of the Islamic Leadership Council for the Cordoba Initiative’s plans to proceed with a community center in lower Manhattan, which has attracted such broad national and global attention,” Rauf said. “On a day when American Muslim leaders stand strongly in favor of protecting civil rights, and denouncing bigotry in all forms, it is important to remember that world-wide efforts to foster peace must begin in our home communities.”
He added, “We must insist on going forward with causes that we know will further peace between all peoples.”
The developers said in a separate statement, “The leaders of Park51 are grateful to the over 100 Muslim American leaders and their organizations who announced their support today of the Islamic community center being built in Lower Manhattan. Our community remains committed to building bridges of understanding to our neighborhoods, to our city and to the rest of America.”
Source: AP