Sharif el-Gamal, the man behind the Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, announced that the Islamic Center, [the mosque that has been located there since 2001] is hosting services for Shia Muslims during the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Muharram, when they mourn the killing of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, in 680 AD. These 45-minute-long services are led each day by Prof. Masoon Raza Abdi, a prominent Pakistani Shia scholar.
On December 5, Sharif el-Gamal, who is a property developer by profession, spoke to the Pakistan Post at the residence of well-known Pakistani-American Dr. Naveed Iqbal. He said Shias were permitted to hold their services inside the mosque, which is run by Muslims from Sunni sect of Islam – something which rarely happens in many Muslim countries – because the center is open to people of all sects and faiths. He said the center would be willing to offer its space to Christians and Jews as well for their religious programs.
Gamal believes that a handful of terrorists have tried to damage Islam. He wants to promote the soft image of Islam by building an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero. When asked if the center will offer its premises to other sects of Islam for religious ceremonies, he said the center's steering committee could decide to lend its space to anyone.
When reminded that Muslims could have benefited immensely if he and his supporters had shown some flexibility and moved the proposed Islamic Center to another location, Sharif el-Gamal asked why it is only the Muslims who are asked to show flexibility. He said the proponents of the Islamic Center sought the Community Board's permission despite the fact that they neither needed to make anyone happy nor require the Board's permission to continue with the project. He maintained that defaming Islam and pressurizing Muslims on mosque issues by using the 9/11 terror attacks as a pretext is unacceptable.
"The September 11 atrocity was the result of terrorism by a few individuals, which had nothing to do with Islam or Muslims," he said and recalled that Muslim nations across the globe had squarely condemned it.
Sharif el-Gamal denied media reports of financial support from a Muslim country for his project. He said he and his colleagues will look forward to donations from both Muslims in the United States and abroad but they don't expect financial support from any government.
