Islamic leader thanks NYPD for protection

A leader of the effort to build an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center on Wednesday thanked the NYPD for coming to his aid during the furor over the project when he and the mosque were receiving death threats.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said at the department's annual pre-Ramadan conference that he was forced to move because of the threats two years ago, but the NYPD gave care and attention to the mosque, to the workers, to him and his family.

"I want to publicly express my deep gratitude," he said.

Rauf helped come up with the idea for the center, called Park51, and promoted it amid fierce criticism because of its location. Rauf now has a reduced role in the project, which is moving forward although nothing has been built yet.

Plans called for replacing a defunct clothing store two blocks from the World Trade Center site with a 13- to 16-story building that would hold athletic facilities, a day care center, art galleries, an auditorium, a Sept. 11 memorial and a prayer space with room for a congregation of about 1,000.

Critics assailed the project as insensitive, saying it was improper for a Muslim institution to be located so close to the site of an attack by Islamic extremists. The furor dissipated after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last year.