Pastor Jones Insists GZMosque Will Be Built Elsewhere

Imam and developer: No deal for moving NYC mosque(AP)

NEW YORK — The imam and developer behind a plan to build an Islamic center near ground zero are denying reports that there is a deal to move the facility.

A Florida pastor who had threatened to burn copies of the Quran in protest of the center announced Thursday that he had negotiated a deal to have its location changed.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf issued a statement through his publicist saying that was false, and there had been no negotiations of the sort.

Manhattan real estate developer Sharif El-Gamal also denied that any talks had taken place.

He said the center would go forward as planned.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida imam says no deal has been reached to move the site of a mosque near ground zero in exchange for a Florida minister to call off plans to burn Qurans.

Imam Muhammad Musri tells The Associated Press that what he offered was a meeting among the Rev. Terry Jones, the New York imam planning the Islamic center and himself to talk about the mosque location.

Musri is president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida. He says he told Jones that he does not believe the mosque should be built near the World Trade Center site and would do everything in his power to make sure it is moved.

Jones says he believes a deal was reached to move the mosque and would fly to New York Saturday to discuss it.

The lying imam:

Jones said Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida told him that officials would guarantee that the mosque would be moved.

"I asked him three times, and I have witnesses," Jones said. "If it's not moved, then I think Islam is a very poor example of religion. I think that would be very pitiful. I do not expect that."

From what I've read, Jones is supposed to be knowledgeable about the Quran and the teachings of Islam. Therefore, he should be aware of kitman.

"Kitman" is close to "taqiyya," but rather than outright dissimulation, it consists in telling only a part of the truth, with "mental reservation" justifying the omission of the rest. One example may suffice. When a Muslim maintains that "jihad" really means "a spiritual struggle," and fails to add that this definition is a recent one in Islam (little more than a century old), he misleads by holding back, and is practicing "kitman." When he adduces, in support of this doubtful proposition, the hadith in which Muhammad, returning home from one of his many battles, is reported to have said (as known from a chain of transmitters, or isnad), that he had returned from "the Lesser Jihad to the Greater Jihad" and does not add what he also knows to be true, that this is a "weak" hadith, regarded by the most-respected muhaddithin as of doubtful authenticity, he is further practicing "kitman."
High Fitzgerald, Jihad Watch http://www.jihadwatch.org/islam-101.html

Who said what? We will never know.

Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, September 09, 2010