Finding a Place to Pray, The Mosque Debate

Summer of 2008, "The Last Summer of Medical School"

I did what I always did when I have a few days off and want to go have fun somewhere, I go to my second home, New York. While I can't call myself a tried and true New Yorker, I'd say being born in Brooklyn and living there for 5 years allows me some claim. I've probably visited there most every year after.

So I spent a week there between my first and second years of medical school. I did the things that touristy people do, I went to the museums, ate the gyros, etc , etc. Then comes Friday. You see while I'm certainly not the most committed Muslim, praying 5 times a day, etc. but I will always make a sincere attempt to make it to Friday (congregational/Jummah) prayers. If I'm not in Georgia, I usually google the nearest location and head that way around 100/130p. I was in the Financial District, having spent the morning at South Street Seaport at a Whaling Museum and Restaurant with Andrew and Helen. The nearest location was off Warren Street , a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center was.

Now, I've got a horrible sense of direction but I found the Masjid (place of prayer) readily enough. You see, the main "masjid" was the basement of a store that extended out into the street and across the street. There was two services, so one I saw one service come to completion. Men in their business attire, colors as varied as the rainbows, catching a service in the middle of their work day. As they filed out, a new group replaced them, joined by me. I attended, enjoyed a relatively short sermon and went about my day, just like the rest the attendees.

And therein lies the beauty of New York. It's a place where you can grab breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts run by an Indian Family, grab a gyro from the Arab vendor, eat dinner in Little Italy and go get some sketch electronics in Little China. I've been to a college Model UN conference hosted at the Marriot on 6th Avenue. I've debated with an Ethiopian Guy on the loving nature of Christ in New York City. I've walked through Central Park after a day at the museums. I've been to Columbus circle to go hear some Jazz with my cousin and aunt. New York is the greatest city I've ever been to. It's dynamic, it's accommodating, it's always moving, always awake.

Given that, I've felt ambiguous about this Cultural Center being proposed to be built near Ground Zero. In one sense, it's inflammatory in the sense that there is a strong emotional component to how we feel about 9-11 and the victims and their families. So the suggestion is that they move the Mosque to somewhere more P.C., less inflammatory, safer.

But that's not the New York I know. It's a place where things do stand in contrast to one another and things work because people are smart. They would want a place where their fellow citizens could pray and Interfaith Dialogues could take place. If Muslims like myself have failed in distancing themselves from the attacks of 9-11, it's not because we haven't spoken out against it or distanced ourselves. It's because we don't do a good enough job in taking part in the community we exist in, as Americans.

-Robert Karim Abdullah