"US Muslims prepare for Islamic holiday, around 9/11; As tension runs high, many fear misunderstanding" by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press | August 14, 2010
NEW YORK — The lunar calendar that Muslims follow for religious holidays is creating a potential for misunderstandings or worse in a year when American Muslims are already confronting a spike in assaults on their faith and protests against new mosques.
Eid al-Fitr, a joyous holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, this year falls around Sept. 11. Muslim leaders fear that their gatherings for prayer and festivities could be misinterpreted by those unfamiliar with Islam as a celebration of the 2001 terrorist strikes....
And the MSM is not helping one bit!
The Islamic Circle of North America, which organizes Muslim Family Days at the Six Flags amusement park in several cities around Eid al-Fitr, this year planned nothing for Saturday, Sept. 11, because of the anniversary. A founder of Muslim Family Day, Tariq Amanullah, worked at the World Trade Center and was killed in the attacks.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a Washington-based civil rights group, is urging mosques to review the group’s security guidelines, including clearing brush where people could hide and installing surveillance cameras.
“The issue I can sense brewing on hate sites on the Internet is, ‘These Muslims are celebrating on Sept. 11,’ ’’ said Ibrahim Hooper, national spokesman for CAIR. “It’s getting really scary out there.’’
The exact date of Eid al-Fitr this year is not yet known. Muslims follow different authorities on moon sightings and astronomical calculations to decide when a holiday begins. In North America, the eid could fall on Thursday, Sept. 9, Friday, Sept. 10, or Saturday, Sept. 11.
It is one of the two biggest Muslim holidays of the year, often compared to Christmas in its significance and revelry. (The other major holiday is Eid al-Adha, at the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.)
Muslims who rarely attend congregational prayer fill mosques to overflowing on Eid al-Fitr.
What do you mean rarely attend?
Papers had us all believing they were rabid 5 times a day.
Mosque leaders often rent hotel ballrooms or convention centers to handle the crowds. Families wear their best clothes, exchange gifts, plan special meals with friends and relatives, sometimes decorate their homes inside and out, and organize carnivals for children.
In predominantly Muslim countries, the celebration can last for three days. But because of work and school obligations in the United States, American Muslims generally attend congregational prayer on the day of the holiday, then continue the festivities over the next weekend or two.
We suck.
If it were a Jewish holiday we would shutting down.
Most mosques usually intensify security around Ramadan because of the attention the month brings. This year, leaders have grown especially concerned about safety. In recent months, mosques around the country have faced protests and vandalism.
See: Terrorists Strike Tennessee
The debate over a proposed mosque and Islamic center near ground zero has become a national issue.
Related: New York Praying to Make Mosque Go Away
Maybe after today.
Yet well before these recent tensions, American Muslim leaders saw trouble ahead when they checked the calendar....
Muslims didn't do 9/11; Israel did.
Also see:
9/11: Mosques and Memories
Morning Prayers at the Mosque
Muslim Obama Celebrates 9/11 Mosque
Yeah, he's one of 'em, Amurka.
Thanks for helping to ruin the party, MSM.
The religious Eid al-Fitr holiday services will be held at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., but the festive celebration that usually follows will not, because of the 9/11 attacks. (Jewel Samad/ AFP/ Getty Images)
WASHINGTON —By uncomfortable coincidence, the holiday falls this year around Sept. 11....
A proposal to build an Islamic center near the site of the World Trade Center in New York provoked a swell of anti-Muslim sentiment; protesters have targeted mosques in other states; a Muslim cabdriver was stabbed; and a Florida church has said it will burn Korans on Sept. 11.
Related: Boston Globe Bible Burning
In light of this, Muslim leaders say they fear that Eid celebrations could be misconstrued, mistakenly or deliberately.
I certainly think so.
“There are those who are promoting the idea that Muslims will be celebrating on 9/11 because that fits their hate-filled agenda,’’ said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C. “If we hold a community bazaar or a family fun day, it’ll be seized on by these people.’’
Been reading newspapers again?
To forestall misunderstandings, the Council of Muslim Organizations in greater Washington has called on its 147-member groups to avoid holding Eid celebrations on Sept. 11, and Muslim leaders are encouraging congregants to explain to non-Muslim friends and neighbors that the convergence this year is mere coincidence. A few groups are also beefing up security for this year’s event.
So are Jews going to skip Hanukkah this year?
But some Muslims disagree on whether to adjust Eid activities in light of Sept. 11.
“There are two strains of thought,’’ Hooper said. “One is that Islam should not be blamed for 9/11 and that Muslims should not have to alter their religious practices, and that if you do, that shows some kind of guilt; and the other is, ‘Hey, let’s show a little sensitivity.’ ’’
Yeah, because they didn't do it!
I know it's hard to accept, God knows I know; however, it is the TRUTH!!
9/11 was an INSIDE JOB carried out primarily by Mossad and elements of the U.S. government.
The convergence even feels uncomfortable for some Muslims. “On one hand, 9/11 is a very difficult day for us, and on the other hand, Eid is like our Christmas — it’s a day for celebration,’’ said Zeba Iqbal, executive director of the Council on the Advancement of Muslim Professionals....
Yeah, why don't you cancel that this year, too.
"Interfaith group rallies on Beacon Hill vs. anti-Muslim rhetoric" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | September 8, 2010
A group of local Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders gathered at the State House yesterday to decry what they described as anti-Islamic rhetoric and violence fueled by the controversy over the proposed mosque near ground zero in New York.
The speakers, who included a rabbi, a Catholic priest, a Quaker, several Protestant ministers, and a Muslim leader, likened the recent stabbing of a Muslim cabdriver in New York City and plans by a Protestant Florida pastor to burn a Koran to the persecution of religious dissidents in Colonial-era Boston....
How far we have come, 'eh?
A statement, which was drafted by religious leaders last week and signed by more than 1,400 people online as of late yesterday afternoon, condemned “the cynical use of misinformation and fear-mongering by various politicians, commentators, and media outlets to stir up anti-Muslim prejudice for political or other ends.’’
I do it every day on this blog when I critique the Muslim-hating, war-promoting papers.
********
Addressing the crowd, Abdul Cader Asmal, past president of the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland and the Islamic Council of New England, drew a distinction between “Islamophobia,’’ which he called “a well-obfuscated, shameless demonization of Islam,’’ and the rational fear Americans and Muslims everywhere have of terrorism.
“Up to now, Islamophobes, with their fear-mongering, have enjoyed a good measure of success,’’ Asmal said. “But now, an increasing number of decent, fair-minded Americans . . . are slowing their momentum and coming to support . . . their Muslim fellow citizens.’’
It is because many of us have LEARNED the TRUTH about 9/11.
Several speakers likened the opposition to the mosque in New York to the persecution their own faiths endured in the past. Rabbi Eric Gurvis of Temple Shalom in Newton recalled that, 60 years ago, when his congregation tried to purchase land to build a synagogue, attempts were made to stop the sale.
Yeah, well, I really don't want to hear anymore about the poor Jews.
Jesus!
And the Rev. Walter Cuenin, the Catholic chaplain at Brandeis, called on Boston Catholics to remember their forebears were persecuted by Protestants.
At least the Protestants aren't pumping the poopers of the altar boys.
Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, did not attend the event, but in a blog post Aug. 13, he expressed support for the proposed Islamic center in Manhattan. Muslims, he wrote, “have a right to practice their faith,’’ and the mosque “near the site of the attack can be a very important symbol of how much we value religious freedom in this country.’’
--more--"I'll bet the contrived controversy goes away after today.
"Investor in Manhattan mosque site talks of sale" by David B. Caruso, Associated Press | September 9, 2010
NEW YORK — The group of Muslims planning to build a 13-story Islamic center and mosque near ground zero appears plagued by divisions that raise questions about the future of the project....
Representatives of some of the project’s backers said they have just started trying to raise the estimated $100 million needed to build the center, and the millions more required to run it...
And here the MSM made it seem like it was opening today!
Also see: The Rauf Ruse
All an agenda-pushing publicity stunt, huh?
"Grieving families take both sides in mosque controversy; Divisions make this Sept. 11th more contentious" by Beth Fouhy, Associated Press | September 11, 2010
NEW YORK — This 9/11 is more political and contentious than the eight before it, with grieving family members on opposite sides of the mosque battle....
Still, there were signs yesterday that religious tensions were abating, and that hushed tones would replace the harsh rhetoric that threatened to overshadow the commemoration of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, and Shanksville, Pa.....
As on other 9/11 anniversaries, official ceremonies were planned at the three locations where the terrorists struck. Obama will be at the Pentagon, Vice President Joe Biden will go to New York, and Michelle Obama and Laura Bush will travel to Shanksville.
Obama said at a White House press conference that Sept. 11 would be an excellent time for the country to reflect on the fact that there are millions of Muslims who are American citizens, that they also are fighting in US uniforms in Afghanistan, and “we don’t differentiate between ‘them’ and ‘us.’ It’s just ‘us.’ ’’
Biden will attend the largest commemoration, at a park near ground zero, where 2,752 people were killed after Muslim extremists flew planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Houses of worship in the city will toll bells at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane struck the north tower, and three more times to mark the moment the second plane hit the south tower and to observe the times each tower fell....
Fell kind of fast, didn't they?
So is there a bell tolling about 5:20 p.m. for the THIRD SKYSCRAPER that dropped that day?
What do you mean BuildingWhat?
Related: Globe Editorial Hyping Koran-burning pastor? It’s unfortunate but necessary
5 Afghans hurt protesting plan to burn Korans (By Rod Nordland, New York Times)
It's a total rewrite from what is in my paper with much less on Jones and omitting the fact that NATO troops fired into the crowds.
What else is new, huh?
I now wish all Muslims a happy Eid.
