When I first learned of the controversy about Park51, I was in disbelief. How could anyone possibly condone the building of a mosque two blocks from ground zero, just 10 years after 9/11? I didn’t understand how it was even a question — Muslims had attacked us. Why would we build them a new mosque before we even had a proper memorial for the victims?

The Americans who supported it? Naïve. The people funding it? Terrorists. Mayor Bloomberg? Well, I usually don’t agree with what he says anyway.

I was an incredibly strong opponent of building the Cordoba House. I still don’t support it, but now it’s because of the timing, not because of the religion.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I was running my mouth without any basis for my opinion, except for what I’d been reading in the news. I took the controversy as an opportunity to educate myself, originally hoping I’d be able to make my argument stronger. Rather, I’ve formed an entirely new perspective on the issue.

Through enrolling in a Middle Eastern political systems class, reading the opinions of both protesters and supporters, discussing with Middle Eastern studies majors and attending the discussion with Daisy Khan, I’ve come to learn just how misunderstood the situation has become.

The Cordoba House offers much, much more than a prayer room for Muslims. I see that the media are the ones who ultimately created and sensationalized this controversy. And although I understand that Muslim communities are desperate to rid our country of Islamophobia, pushing to build the Cordoba house in that exact spot is not the way to do it.

Also, the continued persistence to build at Park51, even after New York City offered alternative locations, is what has brought many to question an underlying reason.

Having lived the past two summers in the city, I’ve walked past ground zero numerous times and will be the first to say that nothing about ground zero looks sacred. It’s the same as any other construction site in New York, with a McDonald’s on the corner and a strip club across the street. But it’s not about the appearance — it’s about the memory, and the memory is still very much alive.

But all this controversy has finally brought attention to the elephant in the room. Many Americans are skeptical of the Islamic faith. We don’t understand it, we don’t trust it, and we’re constantly fed information on why we should fear it.

Our country was tragically attacked, and the terrorists who flew into the Twin Towers called themselves Muslims. Yes, they were radicals, but it’s often difficult to differentiate between those who practice Islam and those who take it to the extreme. Especially when the extremists are the only ones who make headlines. Voice boxes retrieved from the hijacked planes recorded the terrorists screaming ‘Allah,’ and that’s all we needed to hear to turn a cold shoulder. But few of us know ‘Allah’ is just the Arabic word for God.

This is an opportunity to start learning about the Islamic faith. Ten years is too soon for the Cordoba House to be built in such proximity to ground zero, especially when Americans are just as uninformed about Islam as they were before 9/11. But it’s the perfect time to begin understanding our fellow American Muslims.

If we’re to begin to understand, the Muslim communities also need to try and understand our hesitance.

Deciding to move the location of the Cordoba house, simply out of respect for the ones who lost their families, co-workers and loved ones, would say a lot. It would show their sympathy toward the situation, as well as their want to separate the Islamic faith from the attack at ground zero.

But I can also understand that the more Americans protest, the more Muslims may feel it is necessary to build it at Park51. Protesters see the Cordoba House as a victory for terrorism; Muslims see moving it as a victory for the uninformed.

In the end, it’s still too soon. It may not be a mosque, it may not be at ground zero, but it’s close enough to both for many Americans to be upset.

Until both sides can understand each other, the situation will always end lose-lose.

Lauren Tousignant is a junior communications and rhetorical studies and writing major. She is the opinion editor at The Daily Orange, where her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at letousig@syr.edu.

 

Published on October 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm