Park51 Imam: All Options ‘On the Table’

NEW YORK CITY-The imam behind the controversial plan to build an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero told a Council on Foreign Relations audience Monday that “everything is on the table” to resolve the current impasse over the project. “We really are focused on solving it” in a way that will be best for everyone concerned, said imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, according to published reports.

Among the ideas reportedly being considered are expanding the interfaith activities at the planned Park51 to include worship space for people of other faiths as well as delaying the project to allow for more public debate and input. “Our advisers have been looking at every option—including that,” Rauf said Monday, according to the New York Times.

One option apparently not at the top of the list is relocating the planned Islamic center away from its current site at 45-51 Park Pl., about half a mile northeast of Ground Zero. Rauf reportedly remains committed to the project as it stands, maintaining that relocating the project would not satisfy its critics, and in his speech Monday he disputed the notion that the block surrounding the World Trade Center is hallowed ground. “It is absolutely disingenuous, as many have said, that that block is hallowed ground, with a strip joint around the corner, with betting parlors,” he said, according to a report on NY1.

“In recent days some people have asked, ‘is there really a need for an Islamic Community Center in Lower Manhattan? Is it worth all this firestorm?’ The answer, ladies and gentlemen, is a categorical yes!” Rauf said in his speech Monday. Click here for the complete Times article.