|
|
News of Jan
5, 2007
Muslims Challenge Christians' Use of Cordoba Mosque
Madrid,
Jan 5
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 UN 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
meters, 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 re-conquest 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 ecumenical 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, the
secretary of the Islamic Board said.
"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.
DPA
News of Jan
5, 2007
Top |
News |
|
