Building on Faith By Feisal Abdul Rauf

[Jetavan]

Many people wondered why I did not speak out more, and sooner, about this project. I felt that it would not be right to comment from abroad. It would be better if I addressed these issues once I returned home to America, and after I could confer with leaders of other faiths who have been deliberating with us over this project. My life’s work has been focused on building bridges between religious groups and never has that been as important as it is now.

We are proceeding with the community center, Cordoba House. More important, we are doing so with the support of the downtown community, government at all levels and leaders from across the religious spectrum, who will be our partners. I am convinced that it is the right thing to do for many reasons....

At Cordoba House, we envision shared space for community activities, like a swimming pool, classrooms and a play space for children. There will be separate prayer spaces for Muslims, Christians, Jews and men and women of other faiths. The center will also include a multifaith memorial dedicated to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

I am very sensitive to the feelings of the families of victims of 9/11, as are my fellow leaders of many faiths. We will accordingly seek the support of those families, and the support of our vibrant neighborhood, as we consider the ultimate plans for the community center. Our objective has always been to make this a center for unification and healing.

Cordoba House will be built on the two fundamental commandments common to Judaism, Christianity and Islam: to love the Lord our creator with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength; and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We want to foster a culture of worship authentic to each religious tradition, and also a culture of forging personal bonds across religious traditions.

Sounds good to me.

[CRCulver]

Doesn't sound good to me. For one, there's the name Cordoba House. At worst it suggests that this is an attempt to push Islam on the West just as the Muslims forced it on Andalus. At best it merely perpetuates the urban legend that Muslim Andalusia was a happy, tolerant place (it wasn't -- Maimonides, for example, wrote a famous letter where he said even the Jews of Yemen had it so much better than the poor non-Muslim inhabitants of Andalusia).

[ialmisry]

Doesn't sound good to me. For one, there's the name Cordoba House. At worst it suggests that this is an attempt to push Islam on the West just as the Muslims forced it on Andalus. At best it merely perpetuates the urban legend that Muslim Andalusia was a happy, tolerant place (it wasn't -- Maimonides, for example, wrote a famous letter where he said even the Jews of Yemen had it so much better than the poor non-Muslim inhabitants of Andalusia).

Yes, they could always call it Palermo house, which has a similar reputation. But the Christians ran that.

[Jetavan]

Doesn't sound good to me....(Maimonides, for example, wrote a famous letter where he said even the Jews of Yemen had it so much better than the poor non-Muslim inhabitants of Andalusia).

Didn't Maimonides write that letter after the apex of Cordoba's culture, and during it's decline?

In 1013, the Berbers lay seige to Cordoba and the city entered into a process of gradual decline, marked by occasional periods of glory. In later years, another famous native of Cordoba, Moses Maimonides, would flee the city, forced out by the ferocity of Almohade persecutions. In 1236 Cordoba was reconquered by the Christians and the community was labeled a "scandal against Christianity." Ferdinand and Isabella used Cordoba as their headquarters when they waged war against the remaining Moors in Granada, and the tribunal of the Inquisition established in Cordoba was especially cruel. Many Conversos were martyred during the 1480's. In 1483, Jews were exiled from Andalusia.

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