RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Founder and Chairman, American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative
Interviewed by Eboo Patel, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core
Since the summer of 2010, the debate over a proposed Muslim community center adjacent to the Ground Zero site has diminished, but the issue is one that has the potential to stir up a myriad of strong and diverse opinions. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, asserts that this center is the ultimate symbol of American pluralism and tolerance, and an opportunity for interfaith dialogue. However, critics view the location of the Muslim community center as insensitive and unnecessarily provocative. Join Feisal Abdul Rauf in conversation with Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, as they discuss the controversy surrounding this community center, the way this debate has been perceived domestically and internationally, its impact on the Muslim community in the U.S., and lessons learned for the interfaith movement.
Feisal Abdul Rauf is founder and chairman of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and imam of the Masjid Al-Farah mosque in New York City. He is also the architect of the Cordoba Initiative, an inter-religious blueprint for improving relations between the Muslim world and the West. Feisal is a member of the World Economic Forum Council of 100 Leaders (Islamic West dialogue) and the board of trustees of the Islamic Center of New York. He is also an advisor to the Interfaith Center of New York.
Eboo Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based organization building the global interfaith youth movement. Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, he is author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith. Patel is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today, and CNN. He served on President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.
Feisal Abdul Rauf’s latest book, What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, will be available for purchase and signing following the program.
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