Walid comments on statue constructed by Albanian Catholics and Muslims

As a side note, most Islamic scholars find it reprehensible to construct statues of humans. I personally do not endorse the construction of statues either; however, this particular statue was going to be built regardless as to Muslims donating to it. In this circumstance, its symbolic meaning of tolerance among Catholics and Muslims in these particular times is a good sign.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/NEWS05/609230320

Statue stands for religious unity
September 23, 2006
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER

More than 10,000 Albanian Americans are expected to crowd into the gardens outside a Rochester Hills church Sunday to see Detroit Catholic Cardinal Adam Maida and Albanian President Alfred Moisiu unveil and bless a statue of a 15th-Century hero who symbolizes the way Catholics and Muslims once overcame differences in the interest of national unity.
"This event couldn't come at a better time," Dawud Walid, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan, said Thursday. He has spent days trying to resolve concern among local Muslims over a speech by Pope Benedict XVI on Sept. 12.
Like the new statue, the text of that speech reached back into medieval history. In the case of the pope's speech, however, what was pulled out of the past was an anti-Muslim quote from a 14th-Century Byzantine emperor criticizing Islam's founder, the prophet Muhammad.
Later, the pope said he was only trying to remind his listeners of past conflicts as a way to spur stronger interfaith dialogue today. But the quote sparked violence by Muslim groups in several parts of the world and eventually drew a papal apology.
"I think that the symbolism of this Albanian statue could become an opportunity for local Catholics and Muslims to show that there are bridges between us, too," Walid said.
At least a few local Albanian Muslims contributed to the $90,000 cost of the 12-foot-tall bronze statue of the Albanian hero known as Skanderbeg by Fairfax, Va., sculptor Kreshnik Xhiku.
"All Albanians will be interested to see this, because all Albanians, regardless of their religion, consider Skanderbeg a hero who fought to preserve the nation," Imam Shuajb Gerguri, head of the Albanian Islamic Center in Harper Woods, said Thursday.(MORE)