(published by The Jakarta Post on 24 Aug 2010. Click here ) These days, the world is talking vociferously about a plan to build a mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero, a place where the WTC twin towers in New York were destroyed by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization on Sept. 11, 2001. The sudden attack claimed about 3,000 innocents. The project plan was initiated by The Cordoba Initiative , which is an organization whose name makes reference to what was, 1,000 years ago, one of the world’s most advanced cities, Cordoba, Al-Andalus (Spain). This was a city that was politically and religiously dominated by Islam, and a city that was conquered by jihad (holy war).The institution has purchased the land near Ground Zero for US$4.85 million in cash, and recently is raising an additional $100 million for the construction. It might be intending to restore some of Islam’s lost glory by making Ground Zero the site of the rebirth of Islam’s holy war in the West. Unfortunately, the project ...
Life is beautiful, and also..., simple.