Snakes In The Grass At Park 51

I wonder if Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has been in America long enough to understand the connotation of "snake in the grass"?

This Imam has been on a journey for many years to propagate what his wife Daisy Khan referred to as the "Americanization of Islam". Her synopsis of his work is in direct contradiction to what most Americans see as the "Islamization of America".

Now it is quite possible that in his attempts at the "Americanization of Islam" he has a welcomed accomplice~~pardon me~~partner. According to the Imam's assessment of Obama in a blog post on the Huffington Post he praised Obama for what he referred to as his "act of respect". He stated about Obama bowing to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia,

"Disrespect and dishonor, which everyone abhors, are the flipside of respect and honor, values that non-Westerners are especially sensitive to and have been craving from America. President Obama's much covered "act of respect" to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the two Holy Sites of Mecca and Medina, was seen by most Muslims as a major and symbolic shift from prior U.S. administrations' attitude".

He went on to say,

"Obama made it clear that the United States is not at war with Islam, and never will be. President Bush tried to make that point, but his words never rang true with Muslims". He further stated that Obama made the distinction that "the United States is not a Christian nation". How naive for the Imam to accept that absurd distortion of American history and idiotic for it's author.

However the most absurd part of these comments is that the American president's assertion that this country is not a Christian nation and a Muslim cleric recognizing that it is. Feisal states in the same article,

"America may not be a Christian nation. But America is a nation built on the best of Christian values: Christians believe in love of God and love of neighbor: the two greatest commandments according to Jesus".

In his latest step in the "Americanization of Islam" he has undertaken the Cordoba Initiative. According to Rauf the initiative's purpose is to foster,

“interfaith tolerance and respect that we have longed for since Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony and prosperity eight hundred years ago.”

According to Shelomo Alfassa though, the Cordoba Initiative's goals may be somewhat more sinister that what they would lead you to believe. He states in an article on George Mason University's History News Network that,

"The Cordoba Initiative is an organization whose very name makes reference to what was, 1,000 years ago, one of the world’s most advanced cities, Cordoba, Al-Andalus (Spain). This was a city that was politically and religiously dominated by Islam, and a city that was conquered by jihad (holy war). Today, there are Islamic groups such as Al-Qaeda that have a dream of seeing a pan-Islamic world that would extend from old Al-Andalus (Spain). This is based upon Islam’s principle of dar-al-Islam, which means a world where Islamic sovereignty prevails over the citizenry. Dar-al-Islam is attained through jihad and the media is replete with Al- Qaeda’s calls for jihad and their claims to Al-Andalus and its major cities such as Cordoba".

What is the impetus behind the Ground Zero Mosque? Bridging "interfaith tolerance" between Muslims, Christians and Jews or the first step in a pan-Islamic America that has sovereignty over it's citizenry? The questions still remain as to whether or not Feisal and Daisy's goals are to build that bridge between Islam and America or are they just secretly Al-Qaeda operatives?

As I ponder that question, I'm reminded of that old description of "snake in the grass" and a belief that the Cordoba House may need some weed eaters employed in the vicinity of Park 51.

By the way, there's really no need to build a bridge to Islam because there are flights that leave daily for Saudi Arabia, Feisal.  And yes I am proud to be an infidel, thank you very much.