First Mosque Opens in Spain in 500+ Years

GRANADA, Spain (AP) - An imam recited verses from the Quran on Thursday as the former seat of Moorish rule in Spain unveiled its first mosque in more than 500 years.

Dignitaries from Arab and Muslim countries worldwide attended the opening of the Great Mosque of Granada for prayer, crowning a fitful and emotionally charged project that began in 1981.

The hilltop mosque commands a sweeping vista of one of history's prime pieces of real estate: the Alhambra, the reddish 14th-century palace and citadel from which Moorish caliphs governed in splendor until King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled them in 1492, ending 800 years of Muslim rule in southern Spain.

These days, Granada has a Muslim population of about 15,000, one of Spain's largest, but until now its half-dozen mosques were makeshift facilities in apartments, storefronts or garages.

The new, $4.5 million building is the first mosque designed as such to open in Granada since the last Moorish king, Boabdil, rode into exile 511 years ago. His humiliation ended a dynasty that oversaw a culture brimming with art, poetry, music and architecture.

From a mountain vantage point, Boabdil is said to have looked back on the Alhambra one last time, the morning sun shining brightly on its towers and embattlements, and wept.

``When did misfortune ever equal mine?'' he wailed from a spot now known as The Pass of the Moor's Sigh.

The new mosque is a white brick building with a red tile roof and thick, square minaret, all nudged between a convent of cloistered nuns and a Roman Catholic church. The ceremony was held in blazing heat in a garden full of pink and purple touch-me-nots, orange chrysanthemums and miniature palm trees.

``I want to praise and thank God, who let us finish this project and launch a new and fascinating era that begins today,'' Malik Abderrahman Ruiz, president of the foundation that runs the mosque, told several hundred people as the mosque opened.

Spain's Muslims say that after decades of keeping their faith quiet in a predominantly Roman Catholic country, they are growing in both numbers and transparency. A government census says there are about 500,000 Muslims among Spain's 40 million people.

``Islam has gone from being something hidden or invisible in Spanish society to something visible,'' community spokesman Abdul Haqq Salaberria said.

The mosque property in the picturesque Albaicin, the old Moorish quarter of Granada, was purchased with Libyan money in 1981, six years after the death of Gen. Francisco Franco.

But the project was delayed for years by lawsuits from local residents, the discovery of Roman ruins at the site and the death of King Hassan II of Morocco, one of its benefactors.

Ground was broken in 1998. About half the construction cost were financed by the United Arab Emirates.

[i]Ummm, all of us here in the city did the same thing, so don't go looking for a medal.[/i]

Really? EVERYONE in the city volunteered for active military duty? That's news to me.

No, I'm not looking for a medal, just pointing out that I'm certainly no friend to terrorists. But in any event, it bears pointing out that your so called "resistance" is meaningless in that it is completely unsupported by anyone in our government. Open immigration (legal and illegal) is supported by the left AND the right; and the Saudis and Paks are said to be our "allies".

This country resembles the place I grew up in less and less each year. It makes me uncomfortable and I don't like it, but at the same time you can't characterize an entire religion on the basis of the 19 extremist nutball hijackers.

In 1476, Ferdinand and Isabella formed the Santa Hermandad, a police force in charge of punishing heretics. In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV allowed them to appoint three inquisitors that would mark the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition would target all non-Christians specifically Jews and Muslims. Before the Spanish Inquisition would come to an end thousands of non-conformists would see their deaths.

The first inquisition was formed in the twelfth century in reaction for all the heresy that was going on. But it wasn’t called an inquisition until 1231; established by Pope George IX. He made new offices in the church for inquisitors who's job would be to go around and persecute heretics and charge them. This new institution was soon extended to the whole church, even though it functioned not at all , or in an extremely limited way in many parts of Europe (John W. O’Malley). The way that power was separated in this new institution was that there were two inquisitors with equal authority the were bestowed directly by the pope who were in charge of each tribunal and they were both aided by assistants, notaries, police, and counselors. Because they could excommunicate even princes, the inquisitors were formidable figures. Under these circumstances it is surprising that among their contemporaries the inquisitors generally had a reputation for justice and mercy. Some, nevertheless, were accused of excessive cruelty and other abuses (John W. O’Malley). The medieval inquisition worked almost like a tour of sorts. The inquisitors would set up shop somewhere and order that anyone that was a heretic come to them, if they came by themselves then the penalty was less but if after a month of waiting a heretic was found out then the penalty was very strict and usually meant excommunication. There were many different penalties for being a heretic they consisted of a pilgrimage, a public scourging, a fine, or the wearing of a cross. If the case was serious then the heretics land was taken or he was imprisoned. After a while these sorts of trials diminished because there was no one to put on trial. So by the end of the 14th century and early 15th century not many inquisitions were happening.

The Spanish inquisition officially took place between 1478 and 1834. It was established with papal approval by the request of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I . The first part of the inquisition was to deal with all the Jews who through coercion or social pressure had insincerely converted to Christianity. After about twenty years the inquisition also turned its attentions to Muslims and Protestants. In its first decades the Inquisition tried and punished thousands of people, including many converts involved in commerce and trade. People judged to be heretics were executed, often by burning at the stake. In 1492 all unconverted Jews were ordered to leave Spain, and many thousands emigrated to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and other parts of Europe. In the early 17th century the Spanish inquisitors turned their attention to Muslims. Between 1609 and 1614 more than 250,000 Spanish Muslims were driven out of Spain (David R. Ringrose). The Spanish inquisition was a terrible event in history but it was let to happen. People thought that it was from god because the King and Queen instilled it. That is to be expected because Spanish monarchs, like their European counterparts, were believed to rule as trustees of God. This direct link to divine authority is what made rulers legitimate in Europe. It also made non-Christians or heretics dangerous because their rejection of Christianity implied that they did not accept the monarch’s right to rule (David R. Ringrose).

Web site: http://www.queenisabel.org/isabelhistory_a.html

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Queen Isabel and the Spanish Inquisition

....Ignorance by neglect is hard enough to combat, but the truth about Queen Isabel and the history of Catholic Spain in the modern world is, yet the truth has been distorted also. The roots of these opposing opinions lie in the infamous "Black Legend".

Since the mid-16th century this systematic anti-Catholic propaganda campaign has effectively twisted the truth about Catholic Spain and the Church so much so that its distorted version of history is taken for granted as the status quo...

The Spanish Inquisition is one of the worst victims of the Black Legend, having been made a by-word for religious intolerance and sadistic cruelty....in 1994, the BBC aired a documentary made by modern day historians - including non-Catholics and British, who showed the terrible horrors and multitudes of victims of the Spanish Inquisition to be... myths and falsehoods produced by the Black Legend...

The documentary states that "...historians are now discovering that the common notion of the Spanish Inquisition as some horrible, fanatical, all-encompassing bloodthirsty monster could not be further from the truth... Studying the archives of the Inquisition demolished the previous image that all of us had."...

If you think the Muslims were kind to non-Muslims in the apparent Golden Age that was Muslim Spain you need to stop smoking crack.

LOL! I can't stand this "Golden Age of Moorish Spain" garbage.

Islam's "Golden Ages" anywhere it goes last exactly as long as it takes the religion to crush the life out of the culture that it has overrun. The initial Muslim rulers of Spain were from Baghdad, which had been a very sophisticated culture pre-Islam, and where Islam itself was a fairly new religion and had not yet been able to grind that culture into the dust. Succeeding waves of violent, fanatical North African Muslims wiped out this first group of "tolerant, sophisticated" Muslims in short order. Some of the later Islamic rulers did live in relative elegance, with the money that they charged Jews and Christians to live and practice their religions under Islam.

Originally, after the fall of Granada, only the rulers were forced to leave Spain, although finally, in the 16th century, all Muslims were expelled because it was discovered that some groups had been plotting (particularly in Valencia and the Mediterranean regions) to attempt to retake Spain.

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