As political firestorms go, few have consumed more oxygen than last summer’s “ground zero mosque” controversy in lower Manhattan.

Maria Rosa Menocal published this gem of a book just before the events of September 11th, 2001, when a cadre of young Arab Muslim men driven by the politics of occupation, empire and rage combined their grievances with a religio-ideological veneer and flew out of a clear blue sky into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

Visitors to the upper floors of the Muslim community center planned for near ground zero would walk through lofty spaces – for art exhibitions, for contemplation and prayer, for programs on interreligious dialogue, for a 9/11 memorial – as sunlight streams through irregularly shaped windows between white crisscrossing beams.

According to the rough plans, the upper floors would include space for art exhibitions and interfaith programs. There would also be a 9/11 memorial and a space open to people of “all faiths and of no faith” for prayer, contemplation and meditation.

The developer of the planned Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero hopes to finance the bulk of the $140 million project using instruments developed to allow many Muslim investors to comply with religious prohibitions on interest.

In his smart new office downtown, Mr El-Gamal shows us the latest plans for Park 51. Only about 20% of the building at most will be a Muslim prayer space. The rest will include a swimming pool, classrooms, facilities for the elderly – even a culinary school.

Leaders of local and national groups gathered at the site of the planned center, two blocks from ground zero, and declared not only that the planners had a constitutional right to build it, but also that they would help the project move forward in the face of heated opposition.

Comparing the planners of the Muslim community center and mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero to Rosa Parks, leaders of numerous American Muslim organizations declared their strong support for the project on Monday, and said it should not move.

When asked why they resist moving the center to defuse critics who call its location near ground zero insensitive, for example, Mr. Abdul Rauf said that a move would anger Muslims overseas and endanger American troops.

The imam working on the planned Muslim community center near ground zero said Monday he was open to all options to resolve the fierce dispute surrounding it, while possibly provoking the project’s opponents by declaring that the site, two blocks from the former World Trade Center, was not “hallowed ground.”