09-09-2010, 08:40 PM
well now it's conditional. he's "rethinking".
(CNN) -- A Florida pastor said Thursday he called off his plan to burn copies of the Quran based on assurances that a planned Islamic center and mosque near ground zero in New York would be moved -- an assertion rejected by the center's visionary.
The Rev. Terry Jones, who had planned the burning this weekend on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, said he will travel Saturday to New York to meet with the religious leader behind the planned center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, about a new location.
But Rauf and Imam Muhammad Musri, a Florida Muslim leader who appeared with Jones, said no agreement on a meeting or relocation of the mosque had been reached.
Rauf issued a statement later Thursday.
"I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Qurans. However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones or Imam Musri. I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony."
The back-and-forth over the mosque location and the meeting continued into the evening Thursday. Jones insisted he had been told of a deal on moving the center, but Musri said instead he had brokered a meeting with Rauf.
"We are canceling the event because they have agreed to move the ground zero mosque," Jones said, claiming his announcement was based on several conversations with Musri.
But the latter said he had not spoken with Rauf and was not authorized to say the Islamic center would be moved. Jones may have "stretched" their conversations to say there was a deal, Musri told CNN. He said he believes Jones knows there was no deal on the mosque.
Rauf's office told him they would welcome Jones to a meeting if he canceled the Quran burning, Musri said.
Sharif El-Gamal, developer of Park51, denied there had been a change in plans for the New York center.
"It is untrue that the community center known as Park51 in lower Manhattan is being moved," El-Gamal said in a statement. "The project will proceed as planned. What is being reported in the media today is a falsehood."
Jones, pastor of the Gainesville-based Dove World Outreach Center, said he felt a relocation of the mosque "would be a sign from God."
(CNN) -- A Florida pastor said Thursday he called off his plan to burn copies of the Quran based on assurances that a planned Islamic center and mosque near ground zero in New York would be moved -- an assertion rejected by the center's visionary.
The Rev. Terry Jones, who had planned the burning this weekend on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, said he will travel Saturday to New York to meet with the religious leader behind the planned center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, about a new location.
But Rauf and Imam Muhammad Musri, a Florida Muslim leader who appeared with Jones, said no agreement on a meeting or relocation of the mosque had been reached.
Rauf issued a statement later Thursday.
"I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Qurans. However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones or Imam Musri. I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony."
The back-and-forth over the mosque location and the meeting continued into the evening Thursday. Jones insisted he had been told of a deal on moving the center, but Musri said instead he had brokered a meeting with Rauf.
"We are canceling the event because they have agreed to move the ground zero mosque," Jones said, claiming his announcement was based on several conversations with Musri.
But the latter said he had not spoken with Rauf and was not authorized to say the Islamic center would be moved. Jones may have "stretched" their conversations to say there was a deal, Musri told CNN. He said he believes Jones knows there was no deal on the mosque.
Rauf's office told him they would welcome Jones to a meeting if he canceled the Quran burning, Musri said.
Sharif El-Gamal, developer of Park51, denied there had been a change in plans for the New York center.
"It is untrue that the community center known as Park51 in lower Manhattan is being moved," El-Gamal said in a statement. "The project will proceed as planned. What is being reported in the media today is a falsehood."
Jones, pastor of the Gainesville-based Dove World Outreach Center, said he felt a relocation of the mosque "would be a sign from God."