Posted on 01/04/2007 4:18:49 AM PST by ovrtaxt
Few buildings are as emblematic of Europe's Muslim past as the Great Mosque in Cordoba.
The southern Spanish city was once the capital of Moorish Spain, where the mosque was promoted as the third Islamic pilgrimage site after the Kaaba of Mecca and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Declared a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1984, the stunning mosque pays tribute to the architectural and artistic achievements of Muslim Spain, which also shone as a beacon of science and scholarship in 10th-century Europe.
Cordoba residents still often call the building "mezquita" (mosque), though it has in fact been used as a cathedral since the 13th century when Christian troops conquered the city from the Moors.
A mysterious dim light typical of Catholic churches now surrounds the forest of pillars ending in red-and-white-striped arches, which has been compared to a Muslim tent in the desert.
A Catholic altar, a choir stall and chapels have been erected inside, mingling with Islamic features such as the mihrab or prayer niche.
So who does the building, with a prayer hall measuring 23,400 square metres, belong to?
Is it the heritage of Arab-Berber-Spanish Moors, who ruled large parts of Spain for some 800 years and for whom emir Abd ar-Rahman I started building it in the 8th century?
Or does it belong to Christians, who completed their Reconquest of Spain from the Moors in 1492 and whose King Charles V financed the mosque's definitive conversion into a cathedral in the 16th century?
Until recently, few Spaniards questioned the Catholic Church's exclusive use of the building, but the arrival of some 800,000 mainly Moroccan Muslim immigrants over the recent years has raised new questions about the sanctuary.
Thousands of Spaniards have also reclaimed their Muslim roots, converting to Islam in cities such as Granada, once a Moorish stronghold.
Mansur Escudero, a convert who heads Spain's Islamic Board, prayed in front of the mosque recently to claim Muslims' right to use it for prayer.
The board has written to Pope Benedict XVI, proposing that the mosque be turned into an ecumenic temple where Christians, Muslims and representatives of other religions could pray together and "bury past confrontations."
It has sent a similar letter to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Spain's Islamic organizations have distanced themselves from Osama bin Laden's call on Muslims to "reclaim Al-Andalus," the traditional name for Moorish Spain.
They condemned the 2004 Madrid train bombings, staged mainly by Moroccan Islamists, which killed 191 people.
The mosque, a building with an "enormous symbolic power," could show the way for a "universal spirituality," Audalla Conget, secretary of the Islamic Board, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview.
"Spain could be the key that opens the door to peace," he says, recalling the Moorish period when Christians, Muslims and Jews lived in a relative harmony.
After the Reconquest, however, Spanish identity was largely based on a militant brand of Catholicism as a sign of differentiation from Islam.
It is only recently that Spaniards have begun toning down traditions which could be offensive to Muslims, for instance removing a statue of Saint James "the Moorslayer" from Santiago de Compostela cathedral.
Some villages have modified traditional plays or spectacles in which "Christians" kill "Moors."
Ricardo Blazquez, the head of Spain's Episcopal Conference, initially showed sympathy towards the idea of Muslims praying at the Cordoba mosque, but the conference quickly issued a statement saying he had not authorized any Islamic prayers at the cathedral.
Cordoba bishop Juan Jose Asenjo rejected the Islamic Board's request, saying joint use of the temple would confuse believers and promote religious indifference.
The Vatican has rejected earlier petitions by Muslims to pray at the Cordoba mosque, but Conget was hopeful that Benedict XVI would have a more favourable attitude.
The Cordoba bishop's negative answer contrasts with "interesting gestures" by the pope, such as praying at an Istanbul mosque, he said.
A spokeswoman at the Cordoba bishop's office declined to comment, saying the office had "nothing to add" to what the bishop said earlier.
By Sinikka Tarvainen
© 2007 DPA
Appropriate when the same is done for Hagia Sophia.
The Pope wasn't even allowed to pray in Hagia Sophia, and the muslims are demanding the return of a building they lost hundreds of years ago. Of course, Spain will not only turn it over, but will apologize for ever taking it and pay to have in cleansed of offending symbols of Christianity.
Trade it for St. Sophia's. And then there's the matter of the Muslims squatting at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem....
The peace they wish us it the peace of the grave or the peace of the slave. The Pope knows this.
When the Moors can marshall forces strong enough to re-take Spain, they can have the Cathedral back.
Wake up Spain! If muslims once held a piece of land at any time in history, they believe they have the right to it forever.
That includes your entire country, by the way.
If Spain had any sense it would expel all of them.
They already have. Their forces are called the Socialists.
The people of Córdoba are very upset about this, because this Muslim group (mostly Spanish converts, funded by the Saudi government) moved into Córdoba specifically with the intention of making it a center for Islam. In addition to getting the Cathedral - which had been a mosque, which in turn was built on a church destroyed by the Moors - they want to build Europe's biggest mosque there. The Socialists (municipal and regional government) are cool with it, although the people of Córdoba are not and I'm not sure what's going to happen.
Sooner or later every piece of land becomes holy and sacrosanct to muslims with the built in rationale that they have undeniable rights to it under Allah. Sort of like imminent domain laws wrapped in jihad.
These people are full of sheeite. Get your abomination off of the Temple. That would be a step towards peace. Then maybe we'll talk.
the bullshiite muslims don't want to "share" anything
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762155/posts
BUMP! BUMP!
Talk about a win-win-win deal.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
We need a "Sore Loser-Muslim" graphic for stories like this. They lost, King Carlos V kicked the Moors around, and that is that.
Exactly!
It was The Moops.
Spain. having bought into the self-destructive European cultural mush, is allowing a re-reconquista. Ferdinand and Isabel must be spinning, spinning, spinning in their graves (actually, their coffins in Granada). Are the converts also demanding that Spain return the Alhambra to them? The Catholics in Cordoba need to push back, hard. This is what you get when you elect a Socialist government. The other individual who must be spinning in his grave is Franco. (Yes, I know, Franco is still dead. What a pity.)
It also now includes deerborn Michigan and parts of New Jersey
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