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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The 'Ground Zero mosque' has a Sufi imam

This is not a blog devoted to politics or religion, per se, but there is an aspect to the current ongoing debate over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" that might interest Robert Anton Wilson fans. (The Islamic community center, which includes a mosque, would be located a couple of blocks away from the site of the World Trade Center.)

RAW offer mentioned Sufis in his writings. An aspect of the debate over the mosque that hasn't gotten much coverage is the fact that the guy leading the project is a Sufi imam. Here is a New York Times piece that explains how Sufis are different from other Muslims, and how they have been persecuted by the sort of Muslims who were behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

1 comment:

michael said...

For anyone interested in the politics of Sufism, I greatly enjoyed Stephen Schwartz's 2008 book _The Other Islam_. Schwartz makes a very strong case that the US and its allies should back sufis throughout the Islamic world.