On today's CNN's Fareed Zakarias show he speaks about Sufi Islam. If you are STILL questioning the Community Center in Lower Manhatten and the man behind it, Imam Rauf, I hope you will watch this program.
Have you heard of Sufi Islam? Well, Al Qaeda sure has.
It is the mystical brand of Islam that embraces a more liberal interpretation of the Koran. Sufism embraces music and song. It is an interpretation that Al Qaeda views as its mortal enemy. This is the sect of Islam embraced by Imam Rauf, and Al Qaedas hatred of Sufi Islam should tell you where the Imam stands on the Islamic spectrum.
After 9/11 Pres. Bush reached out to the Sufi sect, to spread the message of peace across the world. He used Imam Rauf to do this important work. Imam Rauf is a bridge builder and Bush embraced that. You can read more of the Bush story at Shaw's Progressive Eruptions, it's fascinating.
I was watching C-Span this morning(I'm a C-Span nerd!), Bobby Ghosh, Deputy International Editor for Time Magazine was on. A guy from Georgia called into the program, he said to Ghosh there was no condemnation coming from Muslim religious leaders around the globe after the 9/11 terror attacks. Ghosh answered him saying that is absolutely false. Tens of thousands of leaders in the Muslim community denounced the attack! So my guess is this guy from Georgia gets his news and info from Fox...
A segment of our population are just simply bigots and won't open their minds to what Islam is, sadly Fox adds fuel to the fire and these people are misinformed and led astray. Also interesting, callers who were simply wrong in their assumptions of Islam and while knowing not what they were talking about tried to portray themselves as more knowledgeable about the subject than Bobby Ghosh! People need to educate themselves before they pass judgement on other cultures...
Today was the rally in NYC.
Police estimated that by 11:30 a.m. supporters of the center numbered up to 250, and critics numbered about 450. Oh well...
It was pouring rain, I hope Pam G. came away looking like a drowned rat! :-)
