The $700m museum is about to open in May 2014 but faith leaders have a number of anxieties – including the way it explains the causes of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.

The Guardian article of Wednesday 14 May 2014 notes:
“In particular, they are objecting to a seven-minute film shown at the end of the museum that they fear does not distinguish clearly enough between the extremist violent beliefs of al-Qaida and the non-violent tenets of the Muslim faith.

Linda Sarsour, head of the Arab American Association of New York, said that she had not yet seen the film, as the museum directors had declined to show it in advance of next week’s opening to the public. But she said that she was worried that the video would leave millions of visitors to the museum every year with the impression that a religion with 1.5 billion members was behind the terror attacks.

“Without context, school children and ordinary visitors may conflate Islam with violent extremism. We wholeheartedly support the museum in making al-Qaida part of the story of 9/11, but it has to be clear that al-Qaida is a fringe extremist violent group that is in no way representative of a quarter of the world’s population.”

For the full article please see:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/911-memorial-museum-opening-concerns-interfaith-islam