Master Song maker Mark Henderson Responds to Miff-a-Muslim Day

Hi John,
I read your MAM day blog and thought you might be interested in reading this. I saw it yesterday on a CNN comment page - it is right on.
I send my best
Mark Henderson


Should there be a mosque near Ground Zero? In fact, what is proposed is not a mosque -- nor even an "Islamic cultural center."
In Islam, every structure linked to the faith and its rituals has a precise function and character. A mosque is a one-story gallery built around an atrium with a mihrab (a niche pointing to Mecca) and one, or in the case of Shiites two, minarets.
Other Islamic structures, such as harams, zawiyyahs, husseinyiahs and takiyahs, also obey strict architectural rules. Yet the building used for spreading the faith is known as Dar al-Tabligh, or House of Proselytizing.
This 13-story multifunctional structure couldn't be any of the above.
The groups fighting for the project know this; this is why they sometimes call it an Islamic cultural center. But there is no such thing as an Islamic culture.
Islam is a religion, not a culture. Each of the 57 Muslim-majority nations has its own distinct culture -- and the Bengali culture has little in common with the Nigerian. Then, too, most of those countries have their own cultural offices in the US, especially in New York.
Islam is an ingredient in dozens of cultures, not a culture on its own.
In theory, at least, the culture of American Muslims should be American. Of course, this being America, each ethnic community has its distinct cultural memories -- the Iranians in Los Angeles are different from the Arabs in Dearborn.
In fact, the proposed structure is known in Islamic history as a rabat -- literally a connector. The first rabat appeared at the time of the Prophet.
The Prophet imposed his rule on parts of Arabia through a series of ghazvas, or razzias (the origin of the English word "raid"). The ghazva was designed to terrorize the infidels, convince them that their civilization was doomed and force them to submit to Islamic rule. Those who participated in the ghazva were known as the ghazis, or raiders.
After each ghazva, the Prophet ordered the creation of a rabat -- or a point of contact at the heart of the infidel territory raided. The rabat consisted of an area for prayer, a section for the raiders to eat and rest and facilities to train and prepare for future razzias. Later Muslim rulers used the tactic of ghazva to conquer territory in the Persian and Byzantine empires. After each raid, they built a rabat to prepare for the next razzia.
It is no coincidence that Islamists routinely use the term ghazva to describe the 9/11 attacks against New York and Washington. The terrorists who carried out the attack are referred to as ghazis or shahids (martyrs).
Thus, building a rabat close to Ground Zero would be in accordance with a tradition started by the Prophet. To all those who believe and hope that the 9/11 ghazva would lead to the destruction of the American "Great Satan," this would be of great symbolic value.
Faced with the anger of New Yorkers, the promoters of the project have started calling it the Cordoba House, echoing President Obama's assertion that it would be used to propagate "moderate" Islam.
The argument is that Cordoba, in southern Spain, was a city where followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism lived together in peace and produced literature and philosophy.
In fact, Cordoba's history is full of stories of oppression and massacre, prompted by religious fanaticism. It is true that the Muslim rulers of Cordoba didn't force their Christian and Jewish subjects to accept Islam. However, non-Muslims could keep their faith and enjoy state protection only as dhimmis (bonded ones) by paying a poll tax in a system of religious apartheid.
If whatever peace and harmony that is supposed to have existed in Cordoba were the fruit of "Muslim rule," the subtext is that the United States would enjoy similar peace and harmony under Islamic rule.
A rabat in the heart of Manhattan would be of great symbolic value to those who want a high-profile, "in your face" projection of Islam in the infidel West.
This thirst for visibility is translated into increasingly provocative forms of hijab, notably the niqab (mask) and the burqa. The same quest mobilized hundreds of Muslims in Paris the other day to close a whole street so that they could have a Ramadan prayer in the middle of the rush hour.
One of those taking part in the demonstration told French radio that the aim was to "show we are here." "You used to be in our capitals for centuries," he said. "Now, it is our turn to be in the heart of your cities."
Before deciding whether to support or oppose the "Cordoba" project, New Yorkers should consider what it is that they would be buying.

Miff-A-Muslim Day

     Once the Gang of Righteousness got all huffy over that bitty Christian minister in Florida,  I figured I'd go after .5 seconds of fame by burning my own copy of the Koran, but I looked around the house and I didn't have one.  I tried a weekly copy of TIME magazine, but it's gotten so thin it went up right away in just one unsatisfactory flare.  By now I was a bit panic-stricken.  I certainly wasn't going to ignite my weighty Random House Dictionary of the English Language even though I do have spell-check, and it felt like a sacrilege to burn my copy of The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor.  One step short of dispair, I got out my Bic holiday flamethrower and was finally able to start up a Bible and a Book of Mormon in the Webby Grill.  But neither of them burned very well, they just smoldered and threw off an evil odor under the sacred black dome.  Since I was also BBQ-ing some chicken wings at the time, I was about to call the whole celebration off when my neighbors sensed something in the air and texted the fire department.  By the time the men in yellow hats came, I had both the hot wings and the reading material under three inches of water, but this is Southern California so they gave me a ticket citing me for air pollution, anyway.  

     Never one to give up on a questionable course of action, I figured I still had  time to get in on the Miff-a-Muslim deal, so I went down the street to the local mosque to see if they would sell me one, but since I've last been by they've built up that place like a fortress.  No kidding, double fences, block walls, and the fortified house of worship is dug in on a hilltop in the first place.  I haven't seen such a defensive perimeter since the Fearsomed Foursome, The Purple People Eaters, and the zap-topped 35 foot high double cyclones around the National Security Agency's TOP SECRET Codeword Puzzle Palace. Even with all that, there were no armed guards and it looked like I might get in if I could physically hoof it up the steep grade and squeeze in the big iron gates which were invitingly a few feet ajar.  But then I theorized I might have trouble getting back out, particularly when I explained I was there to help celebrate International Koran Burning Day or whatever the hell the dipsy-doodle reverend from Gaterland was trying to do.   

     He may be crazy, but MAM Day does make some sense if you see value in poking hornet nests.  Actually, there is some merit in it, if only as a reality check.  Hornets are temperamental, they do sting and they can kill you.  You and I know this, but most of the joyful social curtsy bunch that constantly maneuver to do all our thinking for us seem to think otherwise.  They have forgotten that, while we believe all men have equal rights, some of the new folks who have moved in next door are intent on replacing your and my values with their own.  Although trans-continental, this isn't one of those metamorphic processes that takes place over geologic epochs...it's happening here and now.   So maybe MAM Day isn't as wackobird an idea as it sounds...unless you like the alternative, which would be to retreat to some other largely unoccupied New World where we can practice the freedoms we came here for in the first place. I think there's still Antarctica.  Maybe we could thaw Greenland or drain some place that's only a few feet under the ocean, like the Dutch did.  Does anybody own Tierra del Fuego?