Again, I simply ask, what is meant by the words "Islamic values in their truest form" as I go to the website Cordoba Initiative and move around the site I am greeted with many different perspectives of what this means, of the interests in the Shar’iah Project and how this will mesh with the secular perspectives of American society, will this new Mosque also become a place for Imams “rule” of Muslim American citizens based in a form of Shar’iah.
Another thing I found interesting is that this website, that has been in service for at least 2 years, has just now begun to recognize the necessity to include the “freedoms” of Muslim women and have yet to create a voice of their own in that interest, they instead steer one to another site,
Home Page | Cordoba which makes me wonder why this aspect of it’s “congregation” and those it anticipates to serve didn’t involve women in general to begin with.
I have many questions as to the basic functioning of this mosque and whether is will truly permit equality of all faiths to enter and pray within its walls, it will house a pool, but will women be slowed to swim in it, and will they be required to wear certain garb to participate (burkinis), will they continue to be required to be segregated during prayer or to pray behind men or will they finally be able to kneel next to their brothers to pray, will they accept Bahá'í Faith members to participate in activities and will they promote Americanism as a means to unify citizens just as they promote Islam. And as base as this may sound, as simple and odd and whatever you think of this question, will they allow a woman who is on her period to carry a Quran (I know, this seems like a petty question, but it is about more than the question itself it is about the way women in general are viewed as being “clean” or “unclean” and why, it’s about the inherent self view that women take of themselves based in the Shar’iah perspectives), I would like to know the answers to these questions as to prevent a woman from touching a “holy” book in a “holy” house because she is “unclean” due to her menses and to allow this to be promoted as O.K. in the U.S. to me is a problem in any “house” of faith that is to be considered a public community forum atmosphere.
So these answers need to be put forth and understood by most who view many of the stricture and confines of Islam as creating a sense of inequality for humans in general, like building a house where rules of religion trump the freedom of the world that surrounds it, a haven from the reality that is the humanity of New York, I have questions and the website does not answer them. I realize that if they have the money, and the permits, in the American way I say build it, will it bring Islam to the NY people or maybe it will bring some NY/US/secular mentality to Islam, even better. Yes, build it, it is very hard to live in American Freedom and not become immersed in the sensations of what this freedom offers, and as generations grow within the multitudes of this freedom they will also progress towards basic freedoms outside religious “laws” because that IS the eventual evolution of mankind.
This is from the The Cordoba Inititive Website
Home Page | Cordoba
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Shariah Index Project
The Shariah Index Project seeks to address the religion-politics relationship question that has racked the Muslim World since the death of the Prophet Muhammad. A contentious issue between religious Islamic political and secular political parties within the Muslim World, and between Muslim and Western nations (for whom Church-State separation is a foundational concept), it evolves around the right balance between institutions of political power and authority and institutions of religious power and authority, and whether the modern nation state Muslims live in should be a secular or religious (i.e. Islamic) State?
After two years of work, the Sharia Index Project’s working team of Sunni and Shi’a legal scholars from Morocco to Indonesia achieved consensus on a final structure on philosophy, methodology, and approach to providing the general public, opinion leaders, and state officials in both the Muslim and Western worlds with an Islamic legal benchmark for measuring “Islamicity” of a state.
In addition to producing The Shariah Index book, comprised of the essays and deliberations of these scholars, and which provides the Index’s theoretical foundation, Cordoba will present the Annual State of the Muslim World Index. This index, which involves a partnership with the Gallup Organization, polls people from 44 Muslim-majority nations (and members of the Organization of Islamic Conference) on how well their nations comply in practice with this Islamic legal benchmark of an Islamic State
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Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Chairman, Cordoba Initiative
Posted April 24, 2009 | 12:53 PM (EST)
What Shariah Law Is All About
We hear a lot about "firebrand" Muslim clerics calling for the installation of Shariah law. It conjures images of women being stoned and forced into hiding behind burkas and denied educations. We think of beheadings and amputations as a form of justice. And we cringe.
But it is important that we understand what is meant by Shariah law. Islamic law is about God's law, and it is not that far from what we read in the Declaration of Independence about "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God." The Declaration says "men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
At the core of Shariah law are God's commandments, revealed in the Old Testament and revised in the New Testament and the Quran. The principles behind American secular law are similar to Shariah law - that we protect life, liberty and property, that we provide for the common welfare, that we maintain a certain amount of modesty. What Muslims want is to ensure that their secular laws are not in conflict with the Quran or the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad.
Where there is a conflict, it is not with Shariah law itself but more often with the way the penal code is sometimes applied. Some aspects of this penal code and its laws pertaining to women flow out of the cultural context. The religious imperative is about justice and fairness. If you strive for justice and fairness in the penal code, then you are in keeping with moral imperative of the Shariah.
In America, we have a Constitution that created a three-branch form of government - legislative, executive and judiciary. The role of the judiciary is to ensure that the other two branches comply with the Constitution. What Muslims want is a judiciary that ensures that the laws are not in conflict with the Quran and the Hadith. Just as the Constitution has gone through interpretations, so does Shariah law.
The two pieces of unfinished business in Muslim countries are to revise the penal code so that it is responsive to modern realities and to ensure that the balance between the three branches of government is not out of kilter.
Rather than fear Shariah law, we should understand what it actually is. Then we can encourage Muslim countries to make the changes that achieve the essence of fairness and justice that are at the root of Islam.
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Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf: What Shariah Law Is All About
In the end, it's all very exciting to watch unfolding this progression of mankind in religious "smelting" take Bahá'í for example, they basically draw together all prior religions to form a new concept of religious evolution, interesting indeed. Smelt away all ye religions in the great melting pot, what better place than that. I still want to know the answers to the "unclean" woman thing.
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
Freedom from religion? After all, what is religion but a set of rules and limitations?
It defeats the purpose here. This is an issue of the Islamic community. Are you suggesting that Muslims shouldn't be Muslims in designing their community centre?
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Until the religion is the law B_G, Shariah Law. If a religious sect begins to place the laws of their faith over the laws of man then it becomes an issue, when citizens become afraid to have pre-marital sex because the Imams can punish them, to these subjects the religion IS the law, no more no less that NYPD, it is Shariah. There can be no religious punishments that reach outside the walls of a building, if they wish to shut their doors to a member because the member does not conform that is one thing but to punish a member, for breaking a religious law is, imho, morally wrong. Shariah Law cannot be secular in it's very nature Shariah Law is the law of the Islamic faith, so yes, freedom from religion and its inherent "laws". A community center is for the community, everyone within that community, not specifically Muslims as that would be against the nature of improving the community altogether, unless of course this is a private community center that only permits Muslims, in which case how will this help their mission.
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Our Mission: Cordoba Initiative aims to achieve a tipping point in Muslim-West relations within the next decade, bringing back the atmosphere of interfaith tolerance and respect that we have longed for since Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony and prosperity eight hundred years ago.
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It is being built as a community center for all faiths B_G, not just the Islamic community, or is it? I am suggesting that a Community Center that is NON-religious or ALL-religions together would be better than one that conforms to a specific religion wherein the membership still lingers within one group as the defining genre.