Muslims: Make Freedom Tower A Mosque; ‘It’s There Because Of Us’

“On top of the spire, at that symbolic height from the ground, and dominating everything beneath it, will be the Islamic crescent.”

New York, September 11 – A coalition of Islamic groups is calling for the addition of a symbol of their faith to be added to the spire that adorns the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan, with the contention that the skyscraper would never have been constructed if not for a group of Muslims.

Protecting Endangered Religious Values and Enhancing Remembrance Sites – Islamic Organization Network (PERVERSION), an umbrella organization of mostly grassroots American Muslim associations, petitioned the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, to arrange for the installation of an Islamic crescent at the top of, or in place of, the spire that currently adorns the apex of the structure. According to PERVERSION, the addition of the symbol, a feature that distinguishes mosques, would finally give proper attribution to the very reason for the existence of One World Trade Center.

“If not for the courageous acts of thirteen Muslim aviation students in 2001, the Freedom Tower would never have been built,” read the statement of PERVERSION. “Yet not a single tribute to the deeds of those young men, who acted very specifically in the name of their Muslim faith, can be found at the site of their defining moment. It would be most fitting for the Port Authority to install a crescent at the tip of the spire to acknowledge the existential debt the building owes to those men and their Islamic belief.”

The petition names both the Port Authority, which owns most of the World Trade Center site, and the Durst Corporation, which manages the property and its leases, as addressees. A spokesman for PERVERSION insisted the group does not wish to see the integrity of the tower compromised – merely that it should include a visible testament to its provenance.

“The tower will remain 1,776 feet high, as designed,” explained Mohammed Atta, a relative of one of the Muslims who died at the site on September 11, 2001, and whose name he shares. “But on top of the spire, at that symbolic height from the ground, and dominating everything beneath it, will be the Islamic crescent.”

Representatives of the Port Authority and the Durst Corporation were unavailable for comment, given the weekend and efforts to commemorate the events of fifteen years ago. A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office told reporters the mayor had no remarks at present because essentially the question of adding the crescent is not in the purview of City Hall, but that some First Amendment issues might emerge later on.