TNR's Reuel Marc Gerecht begins his August 11 2010 crime against journalism, entitled What Is Moderate Islam?, with the following admission: "Is the 'Ground Zero Imam,' Feisal Abd ar-Rauf, a moderate Muslim? I do not know." As the article progresses it becomes clear that Gerecht, supposedly an expert on the middle east and Islam, isn't being entirely honest with his readers: Gerecht clearly didn't do any research so, in the complete absence of any evidence or background knowledge, he wrote about troubling — and untrue — hypotheticals in a very serious and thoughtful tone.
I found it odd that Gerecht had so little information about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and the Cordoba Initiative so I did a quick Lexis-Nexus search. This is the bare minimum of what Gerecht would have found, if he were the slightest bit interested in researching his column like a journalist:
(1) In "The Ideals We Share; America was built on diversity. The same is true of Islam" (Newsweek, July 30 2007), Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf wrote
[T]ogether we are facing a historic opportunity to re-establish the classical Islamic value of cultural respect... Only when the world's Muslims — perhaps inspired by their American brothers and sisters — rediscover the value of pluralism will the umma truly fulfill the prophet's prediction of a western Islamic revival.
(2) On July 10 2004, the Dallas Morning News wrote "Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf leads a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. He says Muslim terrorists have hijacked his peaceful and pluralistic religion. This has deepened his life's struggle to build stronger ties between Americans and the Muslim world." The piece contains an interview with the imam in which he explains one component of his interfaith mission:
What can we do to help bridge the gap between the Muslim world and the United States? The Cordoba Initiative [a multifaith think tank he helped organize] is one answer. The name is intended to evoke the happy, pluralistic society under the Muslim caliphate that existed in Cordoba, Spain, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived and prospered together.
(3) On April 6 1999, the New York times ran an article under the title 'Manhattan synagogue hosts Jewish-Arab 'peace Seder':
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, of the American Sufi Moslem Association, read a passage in which Isaac addresses Ishmael, his half-brother, saying, 'Too long have we crossed swords over Sinai, too long has there been desert between us, where nothing grows. Only death. Let there be peace.
That's enough. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf isn't just blending American ideology with moderate islam, he's an interfaith peace-maker. Until someone can present even one piece of evidence to the contrary, anyone arguing to the contrary should be regarded as liars.
There's no reason to expect such evidence from Gerecht, mind you. See, Reuel Marc Gerecht, "a former Middle Eastern specialist in the CIA's clandestine service", says that "it appears" that that the Cordoba Initiative receives funding from terrorist organizations... until such time as the FBI, CIA, Mayor of NYC, or "members of the House or Senate select committees on intelligence" issue a press release clearing the organization of any suspicions.
Gerecht even argues that we know that the "Cordoba Initiative’s funding has not been cross-checked with financial counterterrorist information" because... Wait for it...
"If it had been, we probably would have heard about it."
Right there, you have everything that is wrong with modern American journalism and punditry rolled into one: people who should know better saying things they know better than to say, and not bothering to do the research necessary to have the informed opinion for which they're being paid.
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Further reading
- Why It's Called Cordoba House -- or Screw You, Newt by opoponax, August 09 2010
- Fareed Zakaria Tells The ADL "Here's Your Award Back" by sluggahjells, August 07 2010.
- Religious Leaders to Palin/Gingrich - 'Knock it Off!' UPDATE by AnnetteK, August 12 2010.
- Right Wing Lawsuit Attempts to Derail Cordoba House by Mets102, August 07 2010.
- Facts (as opposed to rumor) about the NYC "mosque" by Audio Guy, Aug 11 2010.