First Mosque Opens in Spain in 500+ Years

The Guardian ^ | Thursday July 10, 2003 | DANIEL WOOLLS

[yankeedame]

Spain Opens First Mosque in 500 Years

Thursday July 10, 2003 2:39 PM

By DANIEL WOOLLS
Associated Press Writer

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.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Too bad all the moderate followers of Islam apparently went away the same time the Spaniards retook the country.

[sonofron]

"Never said not issue, was responding to wideawake and his post. By way, Orthodox did not have Inquisition. Heretics typically exile not burned."

i like your english, it's better than my russian! i'm not a catholic, but when it comes to islam, any of the three major christian goups and judaism become my allies!

I'm pro-isreali, but in the case of the jews in spain, they often sided with the moors and that's why there was alot of animosity by the catholics towards them. I'm not excusing the catholics for what they did, just recongnizing the fact that the jews were not all that innocent.

[RussianConservative]

I am no friend of Islam...cancer of the world...but I like clarity in history...wideawake has tendency of revisionism...I came from nation of revisionism. Not such good thing. So I point out these facts. Personally, Isrealism to much appiesers to world opinion. Just do what must be done, worry later about what others think, when not need to worry about bullets in the head.

[knighthawk]

The shi'ite hits the fan.

[rmlew]

I'm pro-isreali, but in the case of the jews in spain, they often sided with the moors and that's why there was alot of animosity by the catholics towards them. I'm not excusing the catholics for what they did, just recongnizing the fact that the jews were not all that innocent.

You have it backwards. The Jews of Sprain generally prefered Muslim rule because of the way Christians had treated them.
There was a JEwish population in Spain since the first century BCE. While the Roman's could be difficult, the real trouble only came when the Romans and later Goths converted to Christianity.
At best, the Jews of Hispania were second-class subjects, but were left alone if they accepted many conditions. However, Jews were periodicall expelled or slaughtered in many Gothic towns. Thus when the Muslims invaded and offered the status of Dhimmi, it was a step up.

[dfwgator]

Give 'em the soft pillows and the cushy chair.

[Coleus]

Watch out, most Muslim Countries were once RC. Spain is no different.

[zimdog]

" nothing the spanish ever did can even touch what stalin did...20 million dead ring a bell."

I humbly submit the cases of North and South America, plus the Carribean and the Canary Islands, for good measure. I beleive Aztec Mexico's population was estimated to be in the low 8 figures, but I'll need to look that up again.

Yes, they were helped out by disease. Disease and armored dogs trained to go for the throat. I don't think they used those on Christians or Jews in al-Andalus.

[Consort]

[Pro-Bush]

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

Charming....Where did the other half come from?

Thanks United Arab Emirates for spreading and contributing to the the religion of peace.

[wolficatZ]

"..in 1994, the BBC aired a documentary"

I remember that series; "The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition" when it originally aired in the US on A&E Network.

[Pro-Bush]

Ping!

[JustPiper]

Spain are our allies, what are they stupid?!

[zimdog]

Spanish just deserts for spreading their own religion of peace, 15th-20th century.

take that however you want to.

[Pro-Bush]

Spanish just deserts for spreading their own religion of peace, 15th-20th century.

take that however you want to.

I would if I could understand what you are trying to say.

[zimdog]

i'm just saying that if you're upset about a faraway country trying to spread its religion in spain, you're not standing on very firm ground, since spain spent 500 years doing just that.

[Pro-Bush]

So what is this? ...Payback?

You sound like an apologist for Islamofascists.

[sonofron]

"Yes, they were helped out by disease. Disease and armored dogs trained to go for the throat. I don't think they used those on Christians or Jews in al-Andalus."

Disease killed far more than any war dog or firearm of the spanish. If there were really hundreds of millions of people there before the spanish (I'd like to see you source on that), do you think only thousands of spanish soldiers could wipe out so many by themselves? When the spanish took the Aztec capitol, there were less than 300 spanish soldiers. The spanish were aided by other "indians" who hated the aztecs. By the way, the Aztecs executed 20 thousand prisoners at one time on one of the temple pyramids. What goes around comes around I guess.

[zimdog]

"low 8 figures" is not hundreds of millions. it's tens of millions and i know that a few thousand spanish warriors couldn't kill all those millions.

that having been said, the spanish came to the americans in the name of their religion of peace and brought nothing of the sort.

[zimdog]

This is hardly "payback". The sitaution in Spain concerns a groups of Muslims who built a mosque for them to worship God in. Anyone who knows anything about Spanish history should be able to recognize religious fascism and its deadly effects. And a mosque in Spain is hardly that.