BRIDGING THE GAP

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that the United States will build a Christian Cultural Center in the city of Karbala, located about 60 miles southeast of Baghdad. Shi'a Muslims consider Karbala to be one of the holiest places in the world, second only to Mecca and Najaf. The city is the site of the Mashad al-Husain, the tomb of Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Husain's tomb is a place of pilgrimage for many Shi'a Muslims, especially on Ashura, an Islamic holiday. Many elderly pilgrims travel there to await death, as they believe the tomb to be one of the gates to Paradise.
President Barak Obama praised the planned construction of the cultural center as further evidence of the growing acceptance of Christianity by the International Muslim Community. He also said the proposed cultural center was the idea of Shi'a Muslims in Karbala who wanted a lasting memorial to show their appreciation for all the wonderful things the United States has done for Iraq. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the Ground Zero Mosque in New York City, speaking during his State Department sponsored fund raising tour, said the Christian Cultural Center, to be located two blocks from the tomb of the Prophet's grandson will be instrumental in showing Muslims that Christianity is a peaceful religion which bears no connection to the warlike Crusaders who invaded the Holy Land in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. He expects the Christian Cultural Center will be a symbol of religious tolerance.
The twelve story center will house an IMAX theater that will show excerpts from the Six Day War when the Israeli army all but destroyed the air forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. Many Egyptian tanks had been destroyed in the Sinai Desert and Israeli forces reached the Suez Canal. The whole of the west bank of the Jordan River had been cleared of Jordanian forces. The Golan Heights were captured from Syria and remnants of the Israeli Army moved 30 miles into Syria itself. Several high ranking Muslim leaders termed as non-sense that the film would seem as if the West were pouring salt into an old Arab-Israeli wound.
The center will also feature a food court with "foodie boutiques" serving delicacies from all over the world. One boutique called, "The Other White Meat," will serve porkbellies, BLT's and green eggs and ham.
There will be a multi-denominational meditation room, to be named the Daniel Pearl Room.
There is not total acceptance of the Christian Cultural Center, however. Some high ranking Imams had no quarrel with the State Department's right to build the center close to one of Islam's most sacred sites but questioned the sensitivity in doing so. One Imam felt the location failed to take into consideration the feelings of believers who go to the tomb to await entrance into Paradise.
"After all," he said, "would you have a Muslim in the Oval Office?"