Posted on 08/16/2003 6:25:14 PM PDT by dennisw
In the Shadows of Alhambra P.K. Abdul Ghafour • Arab News Staff
JEDDAH, 17 August 2003 — After a delay of more than 500 years, Spanish Muslims have finally succeeded in once again building their own mosque in the shadow of the Alhambra, once the symbol of Islamic power in Europe.
Last month, the country’s Muslim community celebrated the opening of the Granada Mosque which symbolizes the new dawn of Islam in Europe and the revival of Spain’s glorious Islamic heritage. Overlooking the historic Alhambra Palace, the beautiful redbrick building, with design references to the Cordoba Mosque as well as to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, stood out as a magnificent landmark. Amid repeated shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), Sharjah’s ruler, Sheikh Sultan ibn Muhammad Al-Qassimi who contributed $3.4 million to the project — opened the mosque. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of people from across the world. “Sheikh Sultan wanted to do something for Western people, to show that Islam is fundamentally moral rather than political in nature,” project promoter Antonio Romero said.
Organizers hope that the mosque will promote better understanding between Muslims and the Roman Catholic majority in their country. “Spanish people were the promoters of this mosque, not in terms of financing but with everything concerning the project and the construction,” said Muhammad Azmil from the mosque.
“This is proof of a lively Muslim community in Granada, open to Spain and Europe,” Azmil said. Granada has more than 15,000 Muslims, one of Spain’s largest Muslim communities which had used makeshift mosques in garages and shops before the new mosque opened.
“I want to praise and thank God, who let us finish this project and launch a new and fascinating era that begins today,” Malik Abdul Rahman Ruiz, president of the foundation that runs the mosque, told the opening ceremony.
The mosque has a very special significance, both for its location in the town of Granada as well as for the fact that it has been established by Spanish Muslims who have embraced Islam over the past 25 years. “Granada has historically been the capital of European Islam. Some people convert because of their search for their roots and others like me joined as a matter of faith,” says community spokesman, Abdul Haqq Salaberria. Salaberria points out that there were many Muslims in Spain during Moorish rule. “The mosque is the symbol of a return to Islam among the Spanish people and among indigenous Europeans and it will break with the unfortunate idea of Islam as a foreign and immigrant religion in Europe,” says Salaberria. “It will act as a focal point for an Islamic revival in Europe,” he said. “The period of Catholic Spain is actually very brief in a long history. When the first Muslims arrived here from Africa via Gibraltar they were few. The majority of Muslims in Spain were people living here who converted freely and naturally,” he said. “After 800 years there was an ethnic cleansing which erased Islam from the face of Spain. Only the beauty of the Alhambra and the Mosque of Cordoba saved them from destruction,” he added. “We hope that Spaniards will understand when we say that this will be a new center for Islamic Europe, that we do not want to re-conquer Andalus but we do want recognition,” Salaberria said.
At a time when the Islamic faith is viewed with some suspicion in Europe, Spanish Muslims are hoping to remind the continent of the vast cultural and intellectual contribution made by the Moors, to art and architecture, astronomy, music, medicine, science and learning. Their rule is also seen by some historians as an unusual example of religious tolerance in medieval Europe. The Moorish period in southern Spain saw Muslims and Jews living side-by-side. The city of Cordoba became a cultural center for both faiths, while universities sprang up in cities across the country. Trade and industry also flourished.
The new mosque intends to offer a series of courses on such subjects as education, law and medicine, as well as Arabic language and is planning on issuing its own degree in science to European Muslims. The mosque and its extensive gardens will also be open to the public.
According to Yousuf Fernandez, a spokesperson for the Muslim Organization of Spain, there are currently about one million Muslims in Spain. Most of them live in the northern Catalonia region and in the capital, Madrid.
Although there is religious freedom in Spain, a secular state according to its constitution, Muslims are not treated fairly, he said. In 1992, Muslims, Jews and Christians signed an agreement with the Spanish State which gave them some important rights, such as classes in Islamic studies in public primary and secondary schools and visits to prisons, hospitals and military buildings to give Islamic teaching to those who seek them. This agreement was signed by the Islamic Commission, a body that represents Spanish Muslims and which is formed by the two Islamic Federations: the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities and the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain. The agreement became law after being passed by the Parliament, but it is not yet being carried out.
The majority of Spanish people are not against Islam, although there is a group of them who are. The first source of bias against Muslims is the right-wing media as well as some political parties with an extremist agenda. They have launched a campaign against Muslim immigration and try to present it as an invasion, Fernandez said. “As a Spanish Muslim, I feel moved and happy by the new mosque in Granada. I think that it is proof that Islam has started to return slowly to Spain again and Muslims should begin to have an influence on society,” he said. “I think that the opening of the mosque should be an opportunity for the Granadians to realize that Islam is an important part of their history and culture. Spain has an important Islamic heritage, which has been ignored for centuries. I think that the mosque is also essential for inter-religious dialogue in the city,” he said.
Situated in the 1,000-year-old district of old Granada, the mosque took more than 20 years to complete after being delayed by lawsuits from local residents, design problems and insufficient funding. The site was bought 22 years ago, when it was still a small plot of farmland squeezed between a convent and a church on the crest of the last Muslim quarter of Granada. Granada Town Council demanded a full-scale replica of the building before it granted final permission because it was concerned about the effect on the skyline. The mosque’s minaret is now 33-feet shorter than in the original plans. Some non-Muslim neighbors were very positive about the mosque. “I love it. They (Muslims) belong in this district (and) it’s a marvelous building,” one neighbor told Reuters.
The Spanish media can hardly be called "right wing", but that aside it appears that according to this unbiased reporter all opposition to Islam in Spain comes from right wing zealots and extremist nuts. I love the press.
Hoe about if we build one synagogue in Saudia Arabia or one church in Libya, say, for each mosque built in Europe? Just to show that Judahism and Christianity are not foreign or immigrant religions in those places ?
“The period of Catholic Spain is actually very brief in a long history. When the first Muslims arrived here from Africa via Gibraltar they were few. The majority of Muslims in Spain were people living here who converted freely and naturally,” he said.
Revisionist history.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.