After several weeks of intense debate, the Manhattan Community Board No. 1 approved Tuesday the construction of Cordoba House – which would house a mosque and an Islamic cultural center – near the World Trade Center site.

The 39-member board gave approval to the project. Twenty-nine members voted in favor of the project and nine abstained. Only one vote was cast against the project. The meeting hall reverberated with mixed sentiment as soon as the board gave its verdict. Opponents of the project screamed "shame, shame," while supporters hugged each other as soon as the final vote came in.

The $100 million lower Manhattan project is the brainchild of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to strengthening an authentic expression of Islam based on cultural and religious harmony, through interfaith collaboration, youth and women's empowerment, and arts and cultural exchange. Upon completion, the 13-story Islamic Community Center will house a mosque, a cultural center, a library and a swimming pool. The facility will be open to everyone irrespective of their beliefs.

Talat Hamdani, who lost her son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani, in the World Trade Center attacks, was one of several Muslim attendees at Tuesday's board meeting. She told Sada-e-Pakistan that the Community Board decision reflected the victory of loftiest American values.

A war of words between supporters and opponents of the project had been going on for the past several weeks, but the climax came on Tuesday during the board meeting. More than 300 New Yorkers, with the majority opposing the project, attended the meeting. They gave long arguments in opposition to the construction of Cordoba House. They reminded the area residents and the City at large that if Muslims were demanding construction of a mosque today, tomorrow they would demand the enforcement of Islamic Sharia law, which could be followed by a new wave of terrorism.

ASMA President Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and several families of the 9/11 victims termed such fears and apprehensions as baseless. Some family members of the 9/11 victims called the opposition to the construction of Cordoba House as "un-American." Talat Hamdani and Donna Marsh O'Connor, who lost her daughter Vanessa Lang Langer in the World Trade Center, were two of the mothers who supported the project. They believed that construction of the Islamic Culture Center near Ground Zero should not be viewed negatively as it represented true American values.

Opponents said construction of an Islamic center near the venue of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history, which killed their next of kin, is no less than an "insult." Talat Hamdani rejected such criticism, saying: "My son laid down his life at the WTC while saving the lives of his fellow Americans and not people of any particular faith like Christians, Jews or Hindus."

Some opponents of the project had argued that it would revive the pain of all the victims' families. But there were many who did not agree. "My daughter also died in the WTC, but I don't have any objection to the construction of the mosque," Donna Marsh O'Connor told Sada-e-Pakistan.

Donna is the director of September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which supports the construction of Cordoba House. She called the demand to scrap the project as un-American. "Those who are objecting to the project believe in discrimination on the basis of faith, color and creed. America enjoys a unique position because of its high values and of which we all are proud," she added.

Talat Hamdani told Sada-e-Pakistan that opponents of the project were suffering from "Islamophobia." According to her, Muslims had been praying at the site for the past eight years without objection from anyone. "There are places of worship for other religions in the area as well. Why then is the Islamic center being singled out?" She said only faith-based dialogue could build bridges of understanding and cohesion amongst different communities.

A group identifying itself as Stop Islamization of America has announced it would hold a demonstration against the project on June 6. For Donna O'Connor, the group's agitation is an attempt to get media attention and alleged that the group represents racism.

Many Muslims also praised Mayor Michael Bloomberg's display of true American values by ignoring calls to shut down the project and declaring that New York is home to all communities and people of faith and therefore is open to all.