New York Muslim leaders announce open house at mosques

In an effort to stem what they say is widespread anti-Islamic sentiment, a group of New York-area Muslim leaders have decided to throw open the doors of mosques next month to all Americans.

The leaders, many from Muslim communities in and around the city, called during a news conference for an open house dialogue from Oct. 22 through Oct. 24.

The plan was announced on the steps of the proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan, a project known as Park51, which the leaders staunchly support.

"It is our hope and desire that these events will help to allay tensions in civil society caused by the Park51 controversy, and will build bridges of understanding that unite and strengthen our nation," said Imam Al-Amin A. Latif, an official with the Muslim Alliance in North America.

Latif was a among a group of Muslim leaders, many from the New York City area, who met behind closed doors Sunday in Queens and came out to staunchly support the lower Manhattan project.

"We stand for the constitutional right of Muslims and Americans of all faiths, to build houses of worship anywhere in our nation as allowed by local laws and regulations," said Latif.

Sharif El-Gamal, the controversial developer and landlord of the Park51 project, addressed the Sunday conclave but the group didn't disclose what he said.

Imam Feisal Rauf, the prelate behind the planned center, didn't attend because of what organizers said were security concerns.

Speakers at the news conference recalled that numerous Muslims were among those killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and that an Islamic prayer space was destroyed in the south tower.

Muslim leaders said it still wasn't clear how the financing of Park51 was progressing. None of the local Muslim communities were in a position to give it financial support now, said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. However, he believed the project would eventually take shape.

Awad said that one way for Park51 to gain acceptance was for there to be an "open and serious dialogue," particularly between center organizers and Sept. 11 families.