Here's today's follow up article by Peyser. It involves a similar Mosque in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Long arm of Allah
Andrea Peyser, NY Post
The mosque at Ground Zero has company.
As far from Manhattan as one can get before hitting ocean, the people who live in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, have long prided themselves on peace, quiet and exceptional pizza. But now, they've been tarred as bigots, racists and worse. And that's by their friends.
A four-story mosque and community center is planned to tower over a narrow, residential strip, just as a 13-story monstrosity is set to cast a shadow over Ground Zero. The mosque, to be planted on Voorhies Avenue, is flanked on all sides by private houses, and sits across the street from an elementary school. It is planned to serve about 1,500 Muslims.
Some neighbors are scared. Some are suspicious of the organization with which the mosque is affiliated -- the "mainstream" Muslim American Society, a group with historical ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood.
"A lot of people are afraid," said Victor Benari, 57, a member of Bay People Inc., a grass-roots organization formed to fight the mosque.
"Please understand," he said, "we are not Islamophobes. We are not bigots! We have nothing against Muslim residents. But you know what's going on today. What happened in the World Trade Center. What happened in Times Square. A lot of people are very concerned that a radical organization may be coming into the neighborhood."
Unlike better-organized residents of lower Manhattan, who cry, "Hell no!" to the Ground Zero mosque, those who defy the one in Sheepshead Bay have been crucified in local papers for making entirely defensible statements. Such as, "Mosques and Muslim schools preach hatred."
Public officials have not responded to their cries. And so, this small corner of Brooklyn, home to families and old folks, has turned into a mini-Gaza Strip, where neighbors don't speak, and people who just want to live in peace are transformed into militants.
How did it get to this?
Last year, a house that for years was occupied by an elderly couple was purchased by laundry owner Allowey Ahmed, a native of Yemen. Neighbors said they found out about plans for the property after a construction worker spilled the beans last fall.
Ahmed, 60, said he bought the plot with an unspecified "group of people sponsoring the project," and plans to start a nonprofit organization. He said he's floored by the uproar.
"We need a place of worship," he told me. "We like to have good, neighborly relations. I am shocked that some of the neighbors are saying we're terrorists!"
Ahmed said the Muslim-American Society is independent of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the Anti-Defamation League warns that the society was founded as an offshoot of the brotherhood. And the ADL reported that a society convention in Chicago just last year devolved into a hate rally, as religious scholars and political activists railed against Jews and called for the eradication of Israel.
"We understand their concerns," said Ahmed. "We want to be good neighbors."
As a peace gesture, calls to prayer, typically made from loudspeakers, will be done quietly "most of the time," he said, adding that classes at the community center will be open to everyone.
This has not quelled critics.
"To build it on a little residential property -- it's unheard of!" said Joan Bonfonte.
"I don't want it here. It's basically 30 feet from my bedroom window," said Alex Tenenbaum, 40.
Bay People, which estimates its members at 1,000, is taking comfort from anti-mosque protesters at Ground Zero. Members are now raising money to hire a lawyer.
Why stick a mosque in a residential neighborhood?
Why build these megastructures at all?
Good people of New York won't stand for it.
