Ammon News - By Hassan A. Barari

I have been following the recent saga in the United States over the mosque to be built near Ground Zero, only to be further struck by the scope of polarisation between those who support and those who oppose it. While I am neither for nor against building of the mosque in this particular location, I would like to make three observations.

First, many of those who are opposed to the idea of building the Islamic centre near Ground Zero do not, as they claim, deny the Muslim community in the United States the right to build mosques and practise their rituals the way they see fit. It is the “sensitivity” of the location, they say, that has driven them to voice adamant opposition against the building of the Islamic centre.

But isn’t opposing the building based on the “sensitivity” of the location tantamount to denying the Muslims the right to do so?

Much troubling is the fact that none of those who oppose the building of the mosque attempt to make a clear distinction between the tiny minority of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks and their supporters, on the one hand, and the overwhelming majority of Muslims who condemned Al Qaeda, on the other.

Fresh in my mind are the strong reactions of the Arabs and the Muslims to the terrorist attacks on New York. I do not want to accuse anyone, but those who oppose the building are - wittingly or unwittingly - demonising Muslims at a time when coexistence is the only code acceptable at international level.
Otherwise, how can the argument of the “sensitivity” of the location square with reality? These voices conceal Islamophobic hysteria that only blinds them further. Worse still, by waging this anti-mosque campaign, the right wing and Fox news have only undermined the American efforts to win in Afghanistan.

Second, those who support the building have the right to do so based on freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Yet, we cannot deny the fact that there are many Americans who still make a direct link between what happened on September 11 and the ideology used to justify the attacks. Perhaps the time is not right and perhaps a PR campaign to sanitise the image of Muslims is needed before embarking on this project. In politics, it is far more important to be wise than right. That said, many Americans, including the president, support the American Muslims’ right to move forward with their building.

The third observation has to do with the reactions of the Arab pundits and columnists to the ongoing debate. I understand, of course, their support for building the mosque on the basis of freedom. Some of them think highly of the American way of life and therefore when they hear that two-thirds of the Americans are against the mosque, they were dumbfounded. I am not sure how the media in the Arab world would have covered this situation had it been reversed.

Many of us in the Arab world admire the American way of life and democracy. Moreover, a majority of us, as reflected in different opinion polls, wish we could have a regime similar to the American.

Unfortunately, many Arabs are destined to live under authoritarian regimes where human rights and freedom is measured against how much this might affect their prospects of survival.

It is true that the debate in the US on this particular issue takes away some of America’s credentials in terms of democracy and freedom, but it also offers a lesson to those who live under authoritarianism on how to conduct a public debate without resorting to violence.

hassbarari@gmail.com

* The Jordan Times