No to Minaret for Brooklyn Mosque

No to Minaret for Brooklyn Mosque

 There has been a lot of bigotry here,” Theresa Scavo, Chairperson of the Brooklyn Community Board 15, told IslamOnline.net, referring to the mosque opponents

 
The proposal for building a mosque with a four-story community center and a minaret in Brooklyn’s Voorhies Ave was submitted to the Department of Buildings in July, but was rejected by city planners over zoning regulations
 
The proposal was accepted when resubmitted without the minaret, and now the construction is proceeding
 
But the project is still meeting strong opposition from some non-Muslim residents who formed a group called the Bay People and distributed leaflets urging people to Say NO to mosque at 2812 Voorhies Avenue
 
They made an online petition, signed so far by nearly 300 residents, accusing the mosque’s main sponsor, the Muslim American Society, of seeking to establish “an Islamic State in America” and being associated with organizations and individuals critical of Israel policies
 
Bray said the mosque opponents first hid their rejection behind a smokescreen of issues like traffic and parking, before coming clear with their accusations
 
Luckily the law is on the side of Muslims
 
This has been the reaction in many places when Muslims want to build places of worship,” laments Bray
Bray, the MSA leader, regrets that this is not just the case of the Brooklyn mosque
 
The Muslim leader asserts that there have been many examples on that trend over the past years
 
 
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that more than half Americans hold negative views about Islam
 
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that American Muslims, estimated at nearly seven millions, are discriminated against more than any other religious group in the US
 
Mohamed Razvi, the founder and Executive Director of the Council of Peoples Organization (COPO) which is dedicated to building relations among diverse communities, points the finger at the media for spreading misconceptions about their community
 
Razvi, a Brooklyn resident of Pakistani origin, believes Muslims should take a proactive approach to deal with the trend of fear about mosques in post 9/11 America