Raheel Raza

Raheel Raza, a Muslim Canadian Congress board member, doesn't agree with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's assertion that a mosque at Ground Zero is an appropriate expression of tolerance.

RAHEEL RAZA: How does building a mosque in the very place where Muslims murdered so many other Americans would create any kind of respect?

What I'm hearing from people, especially those who are victims or who are family of the victims, is that this is very hurtful and it's very painful. And as a Muslim, I read in my holy book, the Qur'an, that we should be very sensitive towards people of other faiths, especially when we are living in lands that are not Muslim lands, and these are our neighbors and our colleagues and the people we care about. We don't show our caring for them by being intolerant.

Building a mosque or a place of worship in the particular spot across the street from Ground Zero is a slap in the face of all Americans. New Yorkers have experienced this pain, and the people who are behind this project are themselves Americans and New Yorkers. I can't begin to imagine how they would even conceive an idea that building a mosque there, which is an exclusive place of prayer for Muslims, would in any way build tolerance and respect.

Mayor Bloomberg and other bleeding heart white liberals like him don't understand the battle that we moderate Muslims are faced with in terms of confronting radical Islam and Islamization and political Islam in North America, which has only grown since 9/11 because of political correctness and people, because of their political invested agendas, not speaking out against issues like this.

Video.