DENVILLE TWP. – On the eve of the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, an area Muslim leader said the Muslim community should not and cannot back away from supporting construction of a mosque and community center in downtown Manhattan, near the site of the Twin Towers attacks.

“There is nothing wrong with having a mosque or Islamic center anywhere in America,” said Aref Assaf of Denville, a frequent congregant at the Islamic Center of Northwest Jersey in Budd Lake and an expert in Muslim-American  affairs. “We can’t concede on this one.”

Assaf said the issue is about whether the nation’s constitutional freedom of religion will be upheld to include Muslims.

Meanwhile, a Democratic candidate for Congress, the incumbent in the 11th Congressional District and the Morristown Tea Party leader found themselves in agreement that the mosque should not be built, though for different reasons.

And an area rabbi said the issue should become a time for greater understanding and discussion between Muslims and non-Muslims.

New York Approvals

The proposed mosque and community center has received  various municipal approvals to build the 13-story facility two blocks north of the World Trade Center site. The plan is sponsored by the moderate Islam group the Cordoba Initiative. Its chief religious figure is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a leading moderate within the U.S. Muslim community.

The plan has the support of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and N.J. Gov.  Chris Christie said it is a matter for New Yorkers to decide.

The plan has come under strident opposition from national Republican figures like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.

Meanwhile, a New York Times poll showed that two-thirds of New Yorkers want the proposed mosque moved farther from Ground Zero.

“The community has decided it’s appropriate and the expansion is needed,” said Assaf. “I have no problem with proceeding. The charges have no merit at all and they stem from anti-Moslem sentiments.”

Assaf, 52, lives in the Lake Arrowhead section of Denville with his wife, Elham, and their four children. An American citizen, Assaf came to the U.S. in 1977 after fleeing his home in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in Palestine. His parents still live in the camp.

He has a doctoral degree in international law and is founder of the American Arab Forum, AAF, a non partisan think-tank specializing in advocating positive image of the American Arab community.

He also is the founding president of the N.J. Arab American Heritage campaign which was signed into law by Gov. Jon Corzine creating the commission in 2008.

Assaf said the issue of the mosque has been hijacked for political reasons by “a large minority that is feeding misinformation about Islam and Muslims and particularly American Muslims.”

He said too many non-Muslims associate the Muslim-American community with the Sept. 11 terrorists. But  Assaf said the 3,000 victims of the attacks included several hundred Muslims.

“We continue to suffer,” Assaf said.

He referred to the opposition to the mosque construction along with recent attacks against a mosque in Tennessee and the stabbing of a Muslim cab driver in New York City.

“Those who have been so outspoken against the mosque have been primarily Republican leaders and pundits,” Assaf said. “Our response is to persevere as a community. The message will permeate to the public at large if something isn’t done to end this heresy.”

Assaf said other ethnic and religious groups have also faced discrimination in the U.S. and that he was optimistic that Muslims will eventually be fully integrated and accepted.

“America has a much larger heart,” Assaf said. “I have a vested interest in seeing the country prosper. My children are American born and to them, the U.S. is number one.”

Assaf said fears of a worldwide assault by Muslims are similar to the unfounded concerns expressed in 1960 when non-Catholics feared Catholic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy would usher in a time of domination by the Catholic Church.

He said another tragic example of unfounded fears led to the interment of thousands of Japanese and Japanese-Americans after the Pearl Harbor attacks. A half-century later, the U.S. government ultimately apologized to those who were held in the camps.

“I hope that 50 years from now we don’t have to come back to two millions Muslims and apologize because we took away your liberties,” Assaf said.

Flanders Rabbi

Moshe Ruden is the rabbi at Temple Hatikvah in Flanders, a synagogue that attracts conservative Jews from  Mount Olive as well as other communities, including the Mendhams, Chesters and Long Valley.

Ruden he said he agrees with Christie’s opinion that a decision on the mosque should be left to New York City.

The rabbi said the issue is as much about sensitivity to the Sept. 11 victims and families as it is about religious freedom. Even the Anti Defamation League of B’Nai B’rith, which has historically fought religious discrimination, has suggested the mosque be moved further from Ground Zero.

“It is an issue of discussion not confrontation,” Ruden said. “I am frightened of anything that abrogates freedom of religion.”

Ruden said the controversy should be used as a point of education and understanding on the larger issue of the relations between Jews and Muslims.

“For much of history, the Jewish and Muslim communities have lived neighborly with friendly relations,” Ruden said. “The whole issue hammers home how much we don’t know about the Muslim community and how the issue has been used politically and cynically.”

Douglas Herbert of Chatham, a Democratic candidate for the 11th Congressional District, said sensitivity should trump the developer’s constitutional right to build the mosque.

“I don’t think it is a wise decision on the part of the Muslim community to build the mosque that close to ground zero,” Herbert said. “The World Trade Center site is a burial ground. The Muslim community has to be more sensitive to this national monument and graveyard.”

Herbert’s opponent, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11, of Harding Township, also said the mosque should be moved from the twin towers site.

“While the locating of religious structures is protected by the Constitution, which I deeply respect, I believe the builders of the mosque in Lower Manhattan knew beforehand that their choice of sites would be controversial,” Frelinghuysen said in a statement.  “I believe the site, so close to “Ground Zero,” to be inappropriate and insensitive to the survivors the 9-11 attacks and the families of the victims.”

Richard Luzzi of Rockaway is a lawyer and president of the Morristown Tea Party. Luzzi also lost in the Republican primary for 11th Congressional District.

“It’s a bigger issue than just the people of New York,” Luzzi said. “Europeans are dealing with it. To say it’s parochial or that it’s playing with politics is sticking your head in the sand.”

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has said the mosque will help Americans better understand the Muslim community. But Luzzi said the construction will have the opposite effect.

“The imam pushing it says he wants to build bridges but it seems he is doing exactly the opposite,” Luzzi said. “If they’re trying to build bridges why stick it in someone’s eye?”

Luzzi said many are concerned because Islam is a social order in addition to a religion and has wider implications. As an example, he cited the rule of “sharia,” the legal code as set down in the religion.

“That makes people uneasy,” Luzzi said