It was the media, Daisy Khan said, that turned the construction of a multicultural center in downtown Manhattan into the national controversy and political tool Park51 has become.

And it was to a room of many aspiring journalists at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications that Khan discussed the controversy surrounding her and her husband’s project.

‘When the media reports this as a project to be feared and people spearheading this project have links to extremists, that’s how public opinion gets shaped,’ she said.

Khan and her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, are the drivers behind the Muslim cultural center, dubbed Park51 because of its address on Park Place in New York City. The project was originally called the Cordoba House, which Khan said refers back to Cordoba, Spain, during the Middle Ages when Muslims, Christians and Jews coexisted and society flourished.

The Muslim multicultural center was first put on the map after an article was published in The New York Times last December. Khan said she believes the article was thoroughly researched and portrayed the center as she and her husband envisioned it.

Controversy emerged when a later article in The New York Daily News ran the headline ’13-Story Mosque Planned Near World Trade Center Site,’ Khan said. This story shoved Khan and her husband onto the national and international stage.

In the thick of rumors and inflammatory blog posts, Khan said, she and her husband turned to leaders of other faiths, such as the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, for help. She gathered religious leaders for guidance and support.

‘The greatest people are from the interfaith community because they have been through this,’ Khan said. ‘They see us as brothers and sisters. They are the ones who went to town hall meetings and stood in front of us and argued on our behalf. They remember their own history and would not let this happen to us.’

The interfaith community formed a supportive coalition around Khan and the imam, she said, coming together in the name of First Amendment rights — freedom of religion. They encouraged Khan and her husband to stand strong and not back down from what they believed in.

‘We have survived this crisis not because of deep pockets. We are small people with small resources. The fight is not just about for us Muslims. It’s about religious freedom,’ Khan said.

Before the center made weekly headlines, it was on a standard, unchallenged path to getting the city’s approval.

The community board approved the center unanimously. Every politician in an elected position who knew about it was in support, and the center was expected to create 150 jobs as well as infuse $100 million into the neighborhood, Khan said.

Gustav Niebuhr, director of the Carnegie Religion and Media Program and moderator the discussion, asked Khan for her opinion of a common argument against building the Muslim cultural center: Isn’t it too close to Ground Zero?

‘I sympathize with 9/11 families. I worked on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center. Seeing the buildings fall was deeply traumatic. I told myself I would help rebuild because of my architectural background. This is my way of doing that,’ Khan said.

Khan said part of the reason for the anger over the center is that America has not healed from the wounds of 9/11, and the country hasn’t yet had a real conversation about what the events mean for Americans. ‘Is it a real wonder that people didn’t know the Muslim community existed and are now uncomfortable it is so close?’

Still, Khan said she feels the location is perfect. She said she believes the new center will help add a sense of renewal and vivaciousness to the community. It would likewise prove to Muslim extremists that America upholds religious freedom for all faiths.

Khan said she feels much of the opposition for the cultural center stems from a lack of understanding the distinction between peaceful Muslim citizens and extremists.

‘The terrorist and extremists do not talk for 1.5 billion Muslims,’ Khan said. ‘We want to build peace where it matters most. This is the perfect place to build momentum against extremism and momentum towards peace and understanding.’

Khan said even though she has endured much criticism from the public and media, the events have only made her stronger.

‘I now know how to defend myself,’ Khan said. ‘Inflictions make you stronger as a community. Islam becomes stronger as a community. We have united around Islamophobia, and it’s brought us closer together.’

Students and community members in the audience had mixed reactions to the speech.

At the end of the Q-and-A segment, a man removed a video camera out of his bag and criticized Khan for owning a sport utility vehicle, keeping America dependent on Arab oil. Khan responded by saying neither she nor her husband own an SUV, drawing laughs from a packed auditorium.

Khan’s remarks changed some students’ perceptions of the Park51 center.

‘It was good to hear a firsthand view of what is going on from the source instead of the news stations,’ said Paul Mancuso, a student in the Military Motion Media program studying broadcast journalism. ‘Up until today, I didn’t have a real idea about what was going on.’

For Najah Zaaeed, a graduate student and practicing Muslim, many of Khan’s comments about intolerance toward Islam hit home. She said she has a similar attitude to Khan: ‘Whatever doesn’t hurt you makes you stronger.’

hklevin@syr.edu

Published on October 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm