A leading American Islamic official has cheered the National Council of Churches (NCC) for its advocacy of a controversial Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan, suggesting that the ecumenical council turned to his organization for instruction on how to respond to skeptics of the project often referred to as the “Ground Zero mosque”. He also proposed that such interfaith partnerships are the natural progress of the ecumenical movement.
“This interfaith relationship, this could not happen in many of the Muslim countries,” said Sayeed M. Sayyid, National Director of Interfaith and Community Alliances for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). “Not because Islam is uninterested, but because certain experiences over the centuries with other faiths has created a mutual suspicion and an environment of mistrust.”
“We can provide that trust and confidence,” Sayyid said to the ecumenical council’s recent General Assembly in New Orleans. The ISNA official argued that such mistrust was the result of western colonial oppression and “the clash of empires”. He proposed that a unique Islamic American identity was being formed, one that could overcome difficulties that limit Christian/Muslim relations in other countries and lead to greater understanding between Muslims, Christians and Jews.
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