As the debate rages on over the planned Islamic cultural center near ground zero, most American Muslim groups have come out to vocally support the project. But there are those, even in the Muslim community, who are concerned with having a mosque so close to the site of the worst terrorist attack on American soil.
One such woman is Asra Q. Nomani, who took to the pages of The Daily Beast to explain why she was uncomfortable with the planned Cordoba Project.
Writing about a trip she recently took with her son to visit ground zero, Nomani recalls how on the way home they passed by two locations — the place where the planned Cordoba House will sit and the Masjid Manhattan, "known in the Muslim community as the 'Salafi mosque." And, as Nomani explains, while the leaders of these organizations would say they speak for Islam, "the worlds represented by these two mosques could not be further apart."
The problem Nomani says, is an unwillingness to recognize and denounce radicalism: "In the name of political correctness, too many inside our Muslim community have been apologists for Islam, feeling defensive, but not being as brutally honest as the world needs us to be about the problem."
And that, according to Nomani, makes the concerns of New Yorker's understandable.
This isn't the first time that Nomani has found herself opposing what she saw as more radical elements of Islam.
As we previously reported, she was arrested for "trespassing" at Dar al-Hijrah in Northern Virginia a few months ago after attempting to pray alongside men, something prohibited in Islam.
Nomani explained her reasons to attempt to desegregate men from women during prayer, "it's a battle of ideas. It's a war of ideas . . . Basically, this is about creating an inclusive and tolerant Islam in this world."
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