'Gay people were probably abused as children', says Ground Zero mosque's new imam

The new imam at the Ground Zero mosque has has sparked fury after declaring that gay people were probably abused as children.

Abdallah Adhami is also quoted as saying that people who leave Islam for other religions should be jailed.

His controversial views were published in a lecture posted on his non-profit website, Sakeenah, and have already drawn criticism from human rights groups who have slammed him as 'ignorant'.

Controversial: Abdallah Adhami is quoted as saying gay people were probably abused as children

According to the New York Post Adhami, 44, said being gay was a 'painful trial' which comes as a result of past trauma.

He said: 'An enormously overwhelming percentage of people struggle with homosexual feeling because of some form of violent emotional or sexual abuse at some point in their life. A small, tiny percentage of people are born with a natural inclination that they cannot explain. You find this in the animal kingdom at some level as well.'

Adhami was named Imam and senior adviser of the proposed mosque by Park51, the organisation behind it.

Fred Sainz, a spokesman for gay rights group the Human Rights Campaign, said the comments were ignorant and hateful, and questioned his 'greater judgement'.

Plans for the mosque on the site of the former Twin Towers caused controversy from the outset.

Sacred ground: More than nine years after the Twin Towers came crashing down, the area of Lower Manhattan now known as Ground Zero is still in the early stages of redevelopment

The Park51 mosque has become a lightning rod for anti-Muslim feeling, with poll after poll indicating it should not be built so close to where the Twin Towers fell.

Last year, developers applied for a $5million grant from a fund set up to rebuild the city after 9/11.

Serious questions have been raised about its backers including controversial Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who refuses to rule out obtaining funding from countries in the Middle East which have backed terrorist regimes.

‘If Imam Feisal and his retinue want to know why they're not trusted, here's yet another reason,’ said. Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam and Director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University.

‘The New Yorkers I speak with have questions about Park51. Requesting money from public coffers without engaging the public shows a staggering lack of empathy - especially from a man who says he's all about dialogue.’

Day of infamy: The World Trade Center south tower bursts into flames after being struck by a hijacked aircraft as the north tower burns following an earlier impact on September 11, 2001

The application was made to the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, which is overseeing the $20billion (£12.5billion) in federal aid which is earmarked for rebuilding New York and its communities.

The bid appears to have been legal as religious groups can make such requests ‘as long as the request is for a facility or portion of a facility that is dedicated to non-religious activities or uses’.

However the board that makes the final decision must also consider its commitment to ‘an open, inclusive, and transparent planning process’ which could scupper the deal.

What is clear is that the application is well above the $100,000 to $1million which is the recommended range for grant applications, something else the board will have to weigh up. The board's decision is expected this year.

Desolation: Rescuers begin the search for survivors in the aftermath of the terrorist strikes

Currently on the site of the proposed mosque is a disused branch of Burlington Coat Factory which will be demolished to make way for the new $70million (£44million) building.

Construction is due to begin on September 11 this year – the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack.

Some 2,995 people including 67 Britons were killed when terrorists flew passenger jets into the Twin Towers on September 11 2001.

The funding application was uncovered by U.S. politics and culture blog The Daily Beast.

It polled its readers to ask if the move was ‘inappropriate’ and 75 per cent agreed.