The leader of the “Ground Zero mosque” project in New York, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is commonly portrayed as a moderate and a sincere believer in interfaith dialogue. Typical is a profile in Time that described Rauf and his wife as “the kind of Muslim leaders right-wing commentators fantasize about: modernists and moderates who openly condemn the death cult of al-Qaeda and its adherents.” But such descriptions are belied by his record, especially at the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), the non-profit that he founded and chairs along with the Cordoba Initiative, sponsor of the proposed mosque and cultural center in downtown Manhattan.

Rauf is a permanent member of the board of trustees for the Islamic Cultural Center of New York (ICCNY), on Third Avenue between 96th and 97th Streets. According to a 2004 obituary for Rauf’s father, Tan Sri Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rauf, an Egyptian who lived in Malaysia but who died in the U.S., Feisal Abdul Rauf is the trustee of land belonging to his father next to ICCNY. When his father died, Rauf first advanced his scheme for an “Islamic and cultural center which will have a mosque, school and a residential tower.” The plan then was to site it at the 96th Street location. The choice to site it two blocks from Ground Zero came later.