The Ground Zero Mosque project has always been a topic that has caught my attention since it was presented in 2010. Initially the mosque was meant to be built two blocks away from the two collapsed twin towers in New York City. Just like a church, a mosque is where Muslims go to pray and reunite in the 'House of God'. This idea to build an Islamic cultural center stirred up a lot of controversy that I personally found unnecessary.
As I mentioned in my previous blog on 9\11 the twin towers were targeted and brought down by a group of Arab extremists. This ties into the Ground Zero Mosque project since the whole debate on whether to build the Islamic cultural center or not revolves around respect. Many find that it would be disrespectful to build a mosque entitled to the Muslims around this area because it was a group of Muslims who had caused this tragedy of 9\11. Now, being a Muslim I don't really see how exactly building a mosque would be disrespectful to the families of 9\11 victims or the society.
A mosque is a pure place where one goes to ask for forgiveness, just because this building will reunite a big group of Muslim shouldn’t be a factor that scares the rest of the people in New York. With that being said I still do understand as to why some people might have negative attitudes towards this project. Clearly 9\11 is still a very sensitive issue to many people and perhaps the medias perception of Muslims made it harder for people to accept the idea of this new building. Although the Ground Zero Mosque project wasn’t put into works, I find that people should stop living in the past and accept changes. The mosque would have been built two blocks away from the twin towers therefore there is still a great distance between both, hence respecting the feelings of those against the project.
I completely agree with you. I know when the situation was brought up, I was like "what's the big deal?" I mean..come on, it was two blocks away! And, if i'm not mistaken, it was open to anyone who wanted to go there? I also heard it was a recreation area or something like that. I could be mistaken, but either way it is a place of religion, reflection and as you mentioned, forgiveness. Of course it is a sensitive subject, but it's a part of history that has to be moved on from at some point. If you go in Germany, I'm willing to bet that there are Synagogues and Jewish assembly places. I really like how you showed both sides of this without sounding offensive at all. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you covered this topic! I remember in my grade 11 English class, someone did a presentation on the mosque at Ground Zero and it stirred up quite a debate. I can see both sides of the debate, but I really don't think things needed to go as far as they have. Everyone is entitled to pray to God, regardless of their beliefs/religion. Muslims are people, I guarantee they had family members who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, they deserve a place to pray for them, just as Christians who were involved deserve to go to their church and pray for their lost ones.
ReplyDeleteKailey! I remember that. But to be honest, it's really no big deal where the mosque goes. I though the states is a free country. Good work Sabah! keep it up :$
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