Imam claims backlash if New York mosque not built
Following a storm of controversy, the imam behind the plan to build a mosque close to New York’s Ground Zero site has stated that if the mosque is not built then there may be a backlash against the United States.
In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations on 13 September 2010, imam Abdul Rauf warned that moving the mosque could prompt a violent backlash from some Muslims abroad.
"In recent days some people have asked: is there really a need for an Islamic community centre in lower Manhattan? Is it worth all this firestorm? The answer is a categorical yes," he said.
Although more than two-thirds of New Yorkers want the mosque built somewhere else, the imam told ABC News: "My major concern with moving it is that the headline in the Muslim world will be Islam is under attack in America, this will strengthen the radicals in the Muslim world, help their recruitment, this will put our people – our soldiers, our troops, our embassies, our citizens – under attack in the Muslim world, and we have expanded and given and fuelled terrorism."
Rauf said that the Islamic centre's advisers had been looking at "every option" including delaying construction.
In addition to the controversy over the proposed mosque, there has been increasing anger in the Muslim world against the United States after a pastor from Florida declared his intention to burn copies of the Koran on September 11. The proposed book burning did not take place, yet there were demonstrations in several Islamic countries over the matter.
As a result of reports that a man in New York had desecrated the Koran on September 11, there were major disturbances in Kashmir, India. More than a dozen people were killed and many injured. The arson and violence was particularly bad in two towns close to the state capital Srinagar, where a school run by a Christian missionary was attacked and torched.
Andrea Minichiello Williams said: "Islam calls itself a religion of peace, yet we see no peace in the violent backlash often found in Islamist protests."
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