Pat Dollard

Tweet

NEW YORK (AP) – The Ground Zero Mosque is being embraced by Muslims who initially were indifferent about the plan, partly in response to a sense that their faith is under attack.

Shaik Ubaid of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York, one of the groups organizing a summit of U.S. Muslim organizations scheduled to begin Sunday in New York City to address both the project and a rise in anti-Muslim sentiments and rhetoric that has accompanied the nationwide debate over the project, said he has a growing sense that American Muslims who initially had trepidation are now throwing their support behind the plan.

“Once it became a rallying cry for extremists, we had no choice but to stand with Feisal (Abdul) Rauf,” he said, referring to the New York City imam who has been leading the drive for the center.

Groups scheduled to participate in the summit include the Islamic Society of North America, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Alliance of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“I think most Muslims outside New York City are more concerned about the backlash than the actual center, which most of them will never directly benefit from,” said Shahed Amanullah, the editor-in-chief of the website altmuslim.com and a group of other Islam-themed sites.

“Grass-roots support is indeed building,” he said, “but that is probably more due to the pushback against the general hostile climate.”

Even after the proposal became public, there was a hesitation by some Muslim groups to quickly endorse the idea, in part because of questions about its feasibility.

Questions about the project’s finances have lingered. The investment partnership that owns the property, led by El-Gamal, quickly fell more than $224,000 behind on its property taxes this summer.

The city’s finance department confirmed Friday that El-Gamal had begun resolving that debt Wednesday, turning over a check for a little more than $35,000 and signing on to an eight-installment payment plan to pay the rest.

El-Gamal said in a statement that the failure to pay was due to a dispute with the city over the assessed value of the property — an appeal that is still pending.