ARAB DIPLOMATS, MUSLIM AND OTHER INTERFAITH LEADERS GATHER TO HELP LAUNCH ASKMUSA.ORG

Revolutionary Website Goes Live on Eve of 6th Anniversary of 9/11, The Jewish New Year and Ramaddan

New York, NY (September 11, 2007) – AskMusa.org officially launched on Monday, September 10th at The New York Tolerance Center with an event highlighted by the gathering of Arab diplomats, Muslim and other interfaith leaders.  Oman’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Fuad Al-Hinai, was among the many esteemed guests who were treated to a visual website tour and speeches by representatives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the LibForAll Foundation, among others.  Leaders from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities gathered in support of the revolutionary website, which offers scholarly and timely essays on aspects of Judaism by prominent Jewish scholars and authors, as well as answers questions about Judaism posted by site visitors in five languages: English, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Bahasa.   

The concept of www.AskMusa.org is brainchild of Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  His meetings with Imams and other Muslims in Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Indonesia and India led him to discover that many among the most highly educated Muslims generally know very little about the most basic tenets of Judaism.  Mohammed Kahn, a Muslim-American interfaith activist who traveled with Rabbi Cooper to Sudan and Israel, and one of the event’s featured speakers, stated, “Many religious Muslims are simply unaware of how much our Faiths have in common.  My hope is that www.AskMusa.org will create a bridge of knowledge and understanding between Muslims and Jews.”  

The launch opens a new front in the digital era in the fight to combat antisemitism and erase the myths about Judaism and the Holocaust currently being propagated on the Internet by Muslim extremists and antisemitic regimes.  Provocative, stimulating essays are expected to solicit honest, authentic responses and questions from Muslim readers.  While scholars from The Simon Wiesenthal Center will answer each question as it is submitted, when necessary, the anonymity of those asking will be protected from the prying eyes of oppressive regimes and internet hackers.  In addition to the essays and live responses, www.AskMusa.org will break digital ground by offering a video of Holocaust survivor Sol Teichman speaking about his experience at this year’s Religious Summit Bali Conference in Arabic, something previously unavailable to Muslims. 

For more information, contact the Center's Public Relations department, 310-553-9036.