Why can't American Muslims fund American Mosques

Submitted by John in Michigan, USA (United States), Aug 24, 2016 at 14:00

Dr. Pipes has taken essentially the same position on this issue since well before 9/11.

Also, I feel your comment misses an important point. Why is foreign money necessary to build mosques and other facilities? American Muslims build plenty of mosques using their own money. Historically, this is consistent with the American ideal - local churches closely tied to their communities. As far as I can tell, localism is consistent with Islamic traditions, particularly in the current era in which the Muslim consensus appears to be that there is currently no legitimate Calif who can speak for and govern all of Islam.

Also, American Muslims per capita are probably the wealthiest in the world; if anything, the net flow of money should be from them to other, less fortunate Muslims. Doesn't this concern you?

Finally, my sense is that most American Muslims are not Salafi.

All of these reasons make Saudi funding of US facilities unnecessary and problematic at the very least. Aren't you concerned?

However, I do have questions about whether the proposed law will pass constitutional muster. US Courts might require a mosque to separate funds used for political purposes from funds used for religious purposes, but historically they have been very reluctant to allow regulation of 'core' religious functions such as building a place to pray.

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