This summer, city-backed plans to build an interfaith community center and mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero sparked an international debate.  Although there are nuances to the arguments, one side clearly feels that building a mosque near the site of the September 11th attacks is an affront to the victims; on the other hand, supporters say that there is no reason to block the plans, beyond simple “Islamophobia.” 

On Wednesday, Michael Enright, 21, a college student who had just returned from doing volunteer work in Afghanistan, was charged with using a tool to slash the neck and face of a New York City taxi driver after the driver told Enright he was a Muslim.

Police have deemed the attack a hate crime — and the suspect is being held without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has recommended that its members refrain from talking about religion with their customers, and Muslim cab drivers aren't the only ones worried that the debate over the Islamic Cultural Center, Park 51, has brought on a new wave of "Islamophobia."

The pitched battle over a proposed Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan continues to heat up. We've heard from academics and lawmakers. Today, we're asking young Muslim Americans where they come down in this debate. 

Supporters and opponents are speaking out in response to the proposed Islamic Center and Mosque, to be built blocks from Ground Zero. As the debate heats up and becomes political here in the U.S., many of the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world are watching. Ahmad Moussalli is a professor of Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut; Borzhou Daraghi is the Middle East correspondent for the Los Angeles Times; and Muhammed Alee lives in Nairobi, Kenya. They bring an international perspective to the story and reveal that the proposed center is indicative of America's fraught relationship with the Muslim world.