Why Muslim Americans Have Been Reluctant to Show Support for Park51

Are hate crimes against Muslims preventing them from taking to the streets in support of Park51, the Islamic cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site? According to activists and demonstrators, violence and hate speech are among several reasons Muslims have not been as visible in their support for the project.

Muslim organizations and civil rights groups have been closely tracking the rise in violence directed against Muslims in recent months, which they see as connected to the rhetoric surrounding Park51. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has followed the issue at its Hatewatch blog, the “wave of hate crimes directed at Muslims” comes after a long lull that followed the initial outbreak of violence in the wake of 9/11.

The latest incident is the knife-slashing of a Bangladeshi Muslim cab driver, Imam Abdullah Salem, by film student Michael Enright, who allegedly shouted “Assalamu alaikum" before stabbing the driver. Apparently, the driver didn't even support the idea of the mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.

At a pro-Park51 rally this past weekend, Ieman Elzoghby of Staten Island was one of just a few dozen Muslim demonstrators who came to show their support. Other Muslims she knows didn’t want to put themselves at risk.

“A lot of Muslims now are just so afraid,” she said. “They're afraid to say, 'Hey, we're Muslims, we're Americans, why can't we have a mosque?'”

Fear appears to be the biggest reason Muslims have been reluctant to show their support for Park51. But there have been other issues as well. For one, the Cordoba Initiative, which is backing the project, was more aggressive at pursuing interfaith outreach than outreach within the Muslim community itself.

“Muslim communities of New York are stakeholders in this project, because they're the ones that will be affected by it, positively and negatively,” said Austin-based Shahed Amanullah, editor in chief of AltMuslim.com. “Getting their input, in terms of anything from the type of amenities to the positioning to which people to do outreach to to the way that it's presented in the media. Those are all things the local communities could've had good insight into if they were consulted earlier on.”

According to Hussein Rashid, a professor at Hofstra University and contributor to Religion Dispatches, thinks Muslims have rallied around the constitutional rights of those planning Park 51. But he thinks the Cordoba Initiative has failed to convert that passion into a support for the project itself.

“I still don't think they've done it,” he said. “I think we're hearing different things -- and not wildly different things, but just enough inconsistencies that it keeps raising questions, from the Twitter feed to the FAQ on their website and their TV appearances.”

Differences over the project have also tapped into class divisions among Muslims. Some say the concept itself -- an upscale community center with a gym, pool and restaurant -- is hard for more traditional Muslims to understand. Even the name, Park51, might sound more like a Manhattan hotspot than a mosque.

Even with all these issues, activists say there are plenty of Muslims who would stand in support of the project if they were part of a larger, organized effort. 

“There's definitely a major lack of leadership right now in the Muslim community,” said Azeem Khan of the Islamic Circle of North America. “Once the national leaders get on the same page, we'll  probably see the local leadership follow suit. And in turn we'll see the young people get involved. They usually look to the elders to see what direction should they take.”

But if Muslim leaders have been slow to act, Amanullah of AltMuslim.com says there's a reason. Many of them have been completely caught off guard by this episode.

“Those people who are going to defend this,” he says, “haven't gotten out of this shellshock that they're in. This is a really traumatic time for Muslim Americans, to see the level of hate that's out there.”