"Ground Zero Mosque"

"Of Mosques and Men: Reflections on the Ground Zero Mosque" I chose this video clip because out of all of the other videos I watched on the "Ground Zero Mosque", this one 
intrigued me the most. The young man (who goes by Acts 17 on YouTube) speaking about the issue in the video clip came from a different angle than the rest of other ones that I watched. Most of the segments that were shown spoke about whether or not the "Mosque" should be built at the designated location, which is a few blocks away from Ground Zero. Another argument of the "Mosque" that mainly comes up is the battle between the significance of the Mosque and its symbol. The people in opposition of the "Mosque’s" location feel that it will be a symbol of Islamic victory and the Muslim’s argument is that the "Mosque" will be honoring the victims of 9/11. However, this particular broadcast went more in depth with what the Muslim peoples’ intentions are with building this "Mosque" on Ground Zero.


Most of you reading the first paragraph are probably wondering why I put Mosque in quotations.  I did that because it is not an actual Mosque that they are building; it is a community center and the two upper levels will be used for worship.  The "Mosque" would be the equivalent to a YMCA, except for people of the Muslim and Islamic faith.  So what's the big deal?  We live in the United States and we are free to worship and follow any religion we choose to.  Also, the "Mosque" is not being built on the exact site of what used to be the World Trade Centers; it is actually six blocks away from the site.   

 It is clear that Acts 17 is biased about the issue and is in opposition to the Mosque’s being built on Ground Zero, however, he does not solely focus on that issue. Acts 17 brings up his Muslim roommate in college and the fact that he dealt with the September 11th attacks through humor. Acts 17 describes three pictures that he had seen, the first one was George Busch as a Muslim, the second picture was of the Statue of Liberty covered in a full veil, and the third was a photo shopped picture of New York covered in Mosques. These pictures stirred up a lot of controversy because they were all indicating that the Muslims eventually were going to take over New York and the entire United States. To support the theory, Act 17 brought up a passage from the Qur’an, which states, “Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, (taking as it were) security.” Acts 17 interprets the passage and states that if Muslims feel threatened or outnumbered by other adversaries who are nonbelievers of the Muslim faith they will pretend to be friends with them to protect themselves. 

Two highly respected Muslim individuals were also quoted in the clip, one of which was the greatest Islamic commentaries, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, says, “...believers are allowed to show friendship outwardly but never inwardly.” And Mohammad’s companion, Abu Darda, who said, “We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.” This basically means that Muslims only act like good citizens in public, but in their homes they are really waiting for the day that Allah will take over and dominate the world. It is quite obvious that the target audience for this video clip is towards people who strongly dislike the Muslim religion and who are against the Mosque being built on Ground Zero. However, I do believe that Acts 17 was also targeting the individuals who did not have a stance on the issue-- individuals who were confused about whether or not they agreed or disagreed with the location of the Mosque. 
After reading Act 17's blog, I found out that it is his goal to reveal the Muslim and Islamic faith without being “PC”. On Act 17’s blog website, “Answering Muslims,” it is stated in the FAQ section that the bloggers feel that “honesty is better than disguised language.” And also that the blog is out of “love not hatred”. Yes, the blog writers say that the purpose of the blog is not to show hatred towards Islamic or Muslim people, however, the diction and tone of the blog posts are full of hate. It is almost as if the writers have set out to condemn Muslims. So what do you think?  Are the Muslims trying to take over the U.S. or are we just being paranoid?