Jewish/Islamic Collaboration? A Way Out?                                                                                                                               

Questions and Answers are cited below as "Q" and "A"

1. Q: To what am I referring?

A: An article in Monday, June 19, 2006 Wall Street Journal entitled "At a U.S. Mosque, Path of Tolerance Leads to Tumult." (Article annexed.)

2. Q: How come?

A: A meeting of a Muslim, "A Sunni Muslim imbued from childhood, he says, with hatred for Shittes, Christians, -and especially Jews."

3. Q: Did he meet one?

A: Yes. "He met one." The article discloses that in 1993, Souleiman Ghali, who owned a deli at the time, was searching for a place to open San Francisco's first Arab mosque. He found an ideal building. But the owner, who was Jewish wanted $10,000 a month in rent, far more than the group could afford."

4. Q: How did the inquirer handle that?

A: "I hesitated telling the landlord what we wanted it for, because I assumed he didn't like Muslims," recalls Mr. Ghali.

5. Q: What else did the Jewish landlord say?

A: "A mosque? Fantastic. We have so many fanatics. We need to work together for peace. The owner slashed the rent 80% and gave the mosque a long-term lease. "That struck with me," Mr. Ghali says."

6. Q: What else did this Mr. Ghali have in mind?

A: "The Islamic Society of San Francisco is at the forefront of a controversial movement to shape an American Muslim identity of tolerance and respect for other faiths."

7. Q: What more did Ghali and others like him have in mind?

A: "The September 11 terror attacks and the recriminations that followed opened a searing debate among Muslims in America over the role of Islam in their lives."

"Many Westernized Muslims, such as 47-year old Mr. Ghali, reacted to 9/11 by recoiling from Mideast politics and other points of discord with mainstream American culture. They set out to repair the image of Islam in America by denouncing hatred and emphasizing the faith's common values with other Western creeds. 'Our vision is the emergence of an American identity founded on compassion, respect, dignity, and love,' says the Islamic Society's Web site."

"Other Muslims, particularly less-assimilated immigrants such as 48-year-old Sheik Safwat -who doesn't speak English - mock the idea of an 'American' Islam. They see attempts to tailor the religion to Western norms as cultural capitulation verging on blasphemy."

8. Q: What else did the speakers offer?

A: "Even Mr. Ghali's admirers say he imposed his progressive agenda on the Islamic society autocratically. Working mostly by himself, he opened the mosque to ecumenical events for Christians and Jews and actively stumped for peace with Israel."

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