Posted on 08/03/2005 12:16:58 PM PDT by Alex Marko
Fear of Islamist terror casts shadows on the country that expelled the Moors
ALL of Europe, it seems, is fretting about its Muslim population. Spain's is relatively small—less than a million—yet no country has a more complex relationship with Islam. Until two years ago, the muezzin's cry “Allahu akbar” had not been heard in Granada since the reconquista and the expulsion of the last Moorish king in 1492. But then a mosque was erected in the Albaicin quarter near the Alhambra. For the mainly Spanish converts to Islam who built it, this was the dawn of a new era: as a mosque spokesman put it, “the seeds of Islam were planted long ago, and now they are flourishing once again.”
Although some traditionalists resisted the mosque, it is not the “heritage” strain of Islam that really preys on Spanish minds: it is the new, fundamentalist variety. This was brought home most shockingly after Islamist terrorists bombed the trains in Madrid in March 2004. Now the London bombings have revived fears. Shortly after the Madrid attacks it seemed that Spain might follow France's example by waging war on radical Islam. The interior minister, José Antonio Alonso, announced plans for more police in cities with large Muslim populations, to crack down on mosque-building and jihad-preaching imams. But in keeping with the conciliatory nature of the new Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, these plans have been shelved.
Instead, a board has been set up for the Foundation of Pluralism and Peaceful Coexistence, based on accords signed between the government and Islamic, Jewish and Protestant representatives in 1992. Mercedes Rico Carabias, director-general of religious affairs and member of the board, insists that Spain has moved away from the restrictive French model of allowing only state-approved mosques. “It is very important that the Muslim community is not put under suspicion,” she says. Instead, she hopes to give Islam the same status as other religions. “In Spain, the problem is plurality. We have now changed from being a totally Catholic country, and we have to respect that.”
The chief task of the foundation is to bring Islam into mainstream society by such means as paying for social programmes and encouraging imams to learn Spanish. Groups such as the Moroccan Immigrant Workers' Association had complained that financing of mosques was in the hands of Saudi-backed imams who preached radical Islam. The government wants public financing of mosques, but this is against the law. Ms Rico says that “we must find another way, either with private or international money, to finance mosques in the future.” Even secular academics, such as Joan-Francesc Pont Clemente, at Barcelona University, agree. “An absolute separation between church and state would not be useful,” he says. “Above all, since Islam has appeared as an important religion. We cannot close our eyes to Islam and end up letting it be financed entirely by Saudi Arabia or radicals.”
Spain's relationship with Muslims remains loaded with historical baggage. The vision of the country as a bulwark against barbarism, the expulsion of the Moors and the persecution of Muslim Spanish converts by the Inquisition are all cherished by both the right and the Catholic church. Their views were bolstered by the call from al-Qaeda, both before and after the Madrid bombs, for a holy war to “liberate al-Andalus”. José María Aznar, the centre-right prime minister whose party was swept from power after the bombings, also calls on history. “There are those who think that the Madrid attacks are related to the support given by the Spanish government to the Iraq war,” he said in a speech in Washington, DC, last year. “The problem with al-Qaeda came from before that—as long ago as 1,300 years.”
Attitudes on both sides remain ambivalent, however. Surveys have repeatedly shown that North Africans top the charts of people that Spaniards most distrust. Last year there were violent protests in at least three towns against the opening of “garage-mosques”. Yet another recent survey, in El País, put Moroccan men first as Spanish women's preferred choice of marital partners among foreigners. The admirable al-Andalus notion of convivencia, or peaceful coexistence, is once again challenging Spain.
Spain will pay for taking a duck on WWIV.
Oh that'll stop the terrorists for sure. All we have to do is try harder and they'll learn to like us.
The "admirable notion" was dhimmitude, which Spain seems to be embracing with open arms - or Zapatero, sometimes known as "Bambi," is doing so, at least.
Not mentioned in this article is the fact that this mosque is being entirely paid for by a sheik from some one of the emirates, and the mosque being built by this group of converts is even being opposed by some older Muslims who have lived in the city for a long time (and by many, many non-Muslims, of course). It is part of a bigger project to convert one section of that city into an entirely Muslim enclave. I believe they have had considerable success, because they have lots of money to buy businesses and property, and have basically forced all non-Muslims out of some of the neighborhood.
Oh dear God....not again......
Post 3/11 Spain is the prototypical European coward state. Hope they learn to speak Arabic.
And there goes my favorite jab at family and friends in Spain:
Spain was under muslim rule longer than it has been a unified kingdom.
What a shame!
They only had another 278 to break the record.
They already did that once.
Should be easier the second time.
"give Islam the same status as other religions" before or after islamics bomb another Spanish site?
Women like tough men, not cut and run cowards.
Yes, so it will then be easier for them to kill you. Idiot.
Spain's attitude towards Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, the terrorists don't set Spanish policy on immigration or anything else. It is driven by the multiculturalist religious beliefs of the Spanish elite, which in practice (since land is finite) amount to dispossessing their own people for the benefit of strangers. This isn't a matter of cowardice in the face of terrorism, it is a matter of racial and internationalist ideology. The present government of Spain and the cultural elite in Spain would have pursued the same goals even if the bombings had never happened. Don't blame Islam and don't blame terrorists.
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