DUBAI: The US imam behind an initiative to build an Islamic centre near the site of the 9/11 attacks has called on Muslims in the Gulf to combat extremism, during his state-sponsored tour of the region.
"There is a common threat: radicalism, which exists in all religions," the official Emirati WAM news agency quoted Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as saying in Abu Dhabi late on Sunday.
"The real battle is not between Muslims and non-Muslims. The real battle is between moderates and extremists," Abdul Rauf said, according to WAM.
He has already visited Bahrain and Qatar as part of the US State Department-sponsored trip, on which he was expected to "talk about Muslim life in America" and his "work promoting inter-faith dialogue," according to a statement by the US embassy in Abu Dhabi announcing the visit.
The plan to build the Islamic centre, which will include a prayer space, near the site of the World Trade Center, destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, has fueled a political furor in the United States.
Proponents say the centre would be a platform for promoting inter-faith dialogue and tolerance, while opponents say it is insensitive to build it near the site of the attacks.
Planners say the multi-story centre will include an area for prayer, sports facilities, theater and restaurant, and would be open to the public.
Construction of the centre, a 100-million-dollar 13-story glass and metal building to be built on private property, has been approved by city officials.
Abdul Rauf has been the imam of a mosque twelve blocks from "Ground Zero" for the past 27 years, according to the website of the Cordoba Initiative, an organization promoting inter-faith dialogue and understanding, which he founded.
