Imam: Mosque row has stoked anti-Muslim feelings

The imam leading an effort to build a mosque and Islamic centre near the World Trade Centre site in New York city said the raging debate on whether it should be moved has stoked anti-Muslim feelings.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said in a television interview broadcast today that the controversy over the mosque site has heightened concerns among Muslims of rising Islamophobia, and fear of Islam is possibly greater than it was immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks.