The Ground Zero imam seems to be losing his wealthy American friends.
At least one stateside benefactor of the Muslim cleric planning the $100 million Islamic center downtown appears to be running away from the project, raising more questions about how and where developers will raise the cash.
Washington, DC, power couple Samia and Abdul Huda Farouki have long supported Imam Abdul Feisal Rauf, who’s leading the effort to build the controversial mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site. But they’re keeping the project at arm’s length.
“We have not provided any funding for the current project or for any activity for some time,” said the couple’s spokeswoman.
Samia, a socialite who helped finance a controversial pro-Palestinian documentary, is still listed as an adviser to the Cordoba Initiative, the nonprofit behind the mosque.
She runs a financial services firm, and has bankrolled “interfaith” events featuring Rauf.
The Faroukis have million-dollar homes in Virginia and Colorado, where they have hosted such luminaries as Queen Noor of Jordan.