THE XX FILES: Examining the ‘Ground zero mosque’

"Disclaimer: Please be advised that we are by no means affiliated with any other organization trying to build anything new in the area of downtown Manhattan."

With those words, which command attention with their bold typeface and central placement, visitors are welcomed to the home page of Tribeca's Masjid Manhattan.

In so few words, so much is communicated. The statement lacks specificity, but we don't need additional details to recognize that the construction of "anything new" doesn't refer to new coffeehouses.

And Masjid Manhattan likely does not even want to provide those details to spell out the issue, out of concern for further association between the 40-year-old organization and the proposed community center that would occupy a vacant Burlington Coat Factory in Lower Manhattan.

This project is formally named Park 51, after its location at 45-51 Park Place. But it has come to be known as the "ground zero mosque" because, to some media outlets, politicians and Americans, the community center is close enough to ground zero and has enough ties to Islam to be considered as such.

The concept and phrasing is misleading, considering that the project will neither be at ground zero, nor will it be a mosque. The location is a few blocks away from the site of the fallen towers. Although a mosque  — "intended to be run separately from Park 51," the website states — will occupy part of the building, religious worship will not be the primary function of the center.

There is, then, no ground zero mosque. In fact, the phrase is completely meaningless from a logical perspective because it refers to something that does not and will not exist.

But the phrase is emotionally charged, grating on nerves made raw, on sensitivity heightened and on patriotism reinvigorated by the devastating events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Whoever coined the phrase knew this, knew the power of rhetoric, knew the attention the words would grab and the controversy the words would create despite their distortion of reality. 

Of course, it's far easier to conjure up, in a succinct three-word phrase, one's own desired version of reality — the reality that simultaneously conforms to and confirms one's worldview — than it is to ascertain the actual truth at hand.

Now, the responsibility is to correct the misunderstanding, alleviate the tension and finally clarify the situation triggered by an inaccurate yet strategic choice of words.Still, can any amount of words separate, in the minds of narrow-minded people, Masjid Manhattan from the proposed community center? Or separate a space that can function as a mosque from the rest of Park 51? And can any amount of words spoken or published by moderate Muslims against radical Muslims separate, in the minds of narrow-minded people, one group in the religion from another in that same religion?

No doubt, many Americans viewed — or continue to view — Islam with a certain degree of suspicion. They will instinctively associate the entire population of Muslims — all 1.57 billion of them throughout the world, according to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life — with the group of violent radicals who, because of their distorted view of Islam, planned out, justified and committed the murder of nearly 3,000 people.

How else, though, can moderate Muslims distance themselves from the radical ones? The disclaimer on Masjid Manhattan's home page states it clearly: "Masjid Manhattan and its members condemn any type of terrorist acts, in particular, the attacks of 9/11 where non-Muslims as well as Muslims lost their lives."

Yet, these words don't seem to be enough. Compared to the phrase "ground zero mosque," how often has this statement received media attention?

Ignorance and bigotry are only undone by instruction, and the cultural center promises to do just that — educate. It's an invitation for the community of Muslims and non-Muslims alike to interact in ways that aren't defined by religion.