"If someone is willing to offer another site ... I would move," the Imam, who is visiting various cities to address concerns about the project, was quoted as saying. "I would move because my whole life is about improving relationships with people, and once the project is established, it will have an impact."
The proposed center has the required city approvals and the backing of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But it also sparked months of escalating nationwide controversy over vitriolic objections raised by conservatives near Ground Zero. They are calling for the centre to move to another location.
But Imam Abdul Rauf, a U.S. citizen of Kuwait origin, said he has spoken with families of 9/11 victims who initially opposed the center and changed their minds upon talking with him about its purposes.
The country has yet to heal from the terrorist attacks, Rauf maintained.
"9/11 family members themselves have said they need to move the discussion in America to one of a mutual healing. And one of the things that's very clear is that we cannot have that discussion without Muslims at the table," he said.
Any alternative site would have to be "on par, or even better," than the current proposed site in a former coat store at 51 Park Place in Manhattan, where Abdul Rauf and real estate investor Sharif el-Gamal sought to build a 13-story center.
So far, no such offer has materialized, Imam Abdul Rauf said in an interview. Abdul Rauf also acknowledged that he and Gamal have different ideas of what the project should be, forcing Abdul Rauf to re-examine whether it was still possible to fulfill his vision for an interfaith center at the Park Place locale.
"Mr. Gamal is more focused on the Islam aspect than on the multifaith aspect of it," said Abdul Rauf. "He came at this from the point of view of wanting to establish an Islamic center."
Gamal has referred to the project as Park51; Rauf describes it as Cordoba House, a reference to a historical period in Cordoba, Spain, about 1,000 years ago when Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted and created a prosperous center of intellectual, spiritual, cultural and commercial life.
Whose vision will win out isn't clear. Gamal has a sizable ownership stake in the Park Place property, but Abdul Rauf is well-known internationally among Muslims and is currently on an extended speaking tour to raise interest, and possibly money, for the project.
"We believe that we will succeed in establishing this vision, whether it's at this site or another site," he said.
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