The Real Madness of the Ground Zero Mosque

I'm sorry to say I didn't really understand the full madness of the Ground Zero controversy, until I saw this New York Post front page.

And read this story.

And realized that the driving force behind the Islamic Cultural Centre is a Sufi, a follower of the gentle, mystical form of Islam that preaches love and reconciliation.

And is hated for that by Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

In the most radical parts of the Muslim world, Sufi leaders risk their lives for their tolerant beliefs, every bit as bravely as American troops on the ground in Baghdad and Kabul do. Sufism is the most pluralistic incarnation of Islam — accessible to the learned and the ignorant, the faithful and nonbelievers — and is thus a uniquely valuable bridge between East and West.

And I mean HATED.

While the West remains blind to the divisions and distinctions within Islam, the challenge posed by the Sufi vision of the faith is not lost on the extremists. This was shown most violently on July 2, when the Pakistani Taliban organized a double-suicide bombing of the Data Darbar, the largest Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city.

So that this Islamic Centre not only wouldn't insult the dead of Ground Zero, it would be a slap in the face to the murderous fanatics who killed them.

Can you believe it? Those crazed American bigots and tea baggers would blow up the bridges to reconciliation, attack the enemies of their enemies, and call violent the followers of the gentle Rahman Baba.

“I am a lover, and I deal in love,” wrote the saint. “Sow flowers,/ so your surroundings become a garden./ Don’t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet./ We are all one body./ Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.”

Or the Sufi poet of love Rumi.

Accuse THEIR followers of defiling a sacred area, while ignoring these grubby places.

And proudly displaying their own bestial ignorance.

















Look I'm an atheist eh? But what else can you say except God help America.

Madness is madness.

And may Rumi forgive them...