his is sharif el gamal, the real estate developer who came up with the idea in the first place.s me mao to tell the story of the ground zero mosque. good to have you. >> thank you so much for having me. >> let's start with the beginning. what made you think about doing something like this. you're a real estate developer. >> i'm an american, born in brooklyn to a polish catholic mother, to an egyptian father. i've lived around the world and moved back to new york when i was 18 years old. when i moved back to the city, it became home. new york became home for me. after 9/11, divided to reconnect with my faith. i did not grow up in a very religious home, but the seed of my identity and my faith was planted in me. after 9/11, i decided to start praying in a mosque which was on warren street. when i started praying there, there were several thousand people that were praying on the streets, on the stairwells of this building, and it was -- >> the mosque was -- the rooms were filled. >> it was over capacity. the place was just filled. i made an intention, i made a decision that i wante