Park51 Imam: 'Islam is not America's enemy'

_Due to a reporting error, this story incorrectly stated the year in which former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo was ushered away after protests became violent. The incident occurred in 2009. This story has been changed to reflect these changes. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error. _

The leader of the controversial Park51 center near Ground Zero thinks the United States is more Islamic than many Islamic countries.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf spoke to hundreds of UNC students and community members Wednesday night about faith, politics, his center and the idea of citizenship.

“All of Islamic law is to detect five or six objectives — life, liberty, property, family, the intellect and religion,” he said, while talking about the Founding Fathers, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

“If you ask many Muslims, they will tell you America, and the way we live in America, is more Islamic than the way we live in our homelands.”

Rauf said the ideas of freedom and universal equality come from the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

He said countries that guarantee basic human rights, such as freedom of religion, follow the basic tenets of Shariah — or Islamic law — better than many Islamic states follow it themselves.
The community center was in the news again Tuesday when lawyers for Timothy Brown, a former New York City firefighter who sued the city to try to stop the center from being built, argued the case before a trial court.

Rauf said in his speech that the criticism of the center — which he said he has been planning for more than 20 years — is politically motivated and fostered by extremism.

“Extremists and the radical ideas that fuel them are our enemy,” he said. “Islam is not America’s enemy.”

Brown attended a rally of about 50 to 60 people at the Carolina Inn before Rauf’s speech but reportedly did not speak about his lawsuit. The group later marched to Hill Hall, where Rauf spoke, to protest and hold a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks. They reportedly stood outside for about 20 minutes before dispersing.

The event was free of anything close to the drama that accompanied several speeches by controversial figures on campus in 2009. In the most jarring event, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo had to be ushered away after protestors became violent.

Although the protest was sponsored by a Christian group, Rauf downplayed the importance of what one names his or her religion, saying only belief and action matter.

“When you have an experience of God, you begin to relate to everyone who has the same experience,” he said. “That’s why I believe that broadly speaking, humanity is divided into two groups — the ethical and the unethical.”

Rauf’s talk was this year’s Weil Lecture on American Citizenship, which since 1915 has drawn speakers such as President William Howard Taft and Senator John Kerry.

“I’m glad he came and talked,” said international studies and political science major Jonathan Reasor. “I think there’s a lot of misconceptions out there about Islam and the Quran.”

Rauf added that American Muslims can help themselves by losing some of their more traditional culture, an idea UNC Muslim Student Association President Sana Khan said she agrees with.

“Muslims need to make more of an effort to show how Islam is compatible with America,” she said. “Like (Rauf) said, we really are at a turning point.”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.