Spain’s bishops are alarmed by ambitious plans to recreate the city of Cordoba – once the heart of the ancient Islamic kingdom of al-Andalus – as a pilgrimage site for Muslims throughout Europe.
Plans include the construction of a half-size replica of Cordoba’s eighth century great mosque, according to the head of Cordoba’s Muslim Association. Funds for the project are being sought from the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and Muslim organisations in Morocco and Egypt.Other big mosques are reportedly planned for Medina Azahara near Cordoba, Seville and Granada.
The bishops of those cities are alarmed at the construction of ostentatious mosques, fearing that the church’s waning influence may be further eclipsed by resurgent Islam financed from abroad. Up to one million Muslims are estimated to live in Spain. Many are drawn by a romantic nostalgia for the lost paradise of Al-Andalus, the caliphate that ruled Spain for more than five centuries.
Last month, Spanish Muslims reasserted their right to pray in Cordoba’s great mosque. The mosque houses within its arches a cathedral built to consolidate Catholic rule after Muslims were expelled from Spain in 1492. Muslims are forbidden to pray in the building.
Mansur Escudero, president of Spain’s Islamic Council said
“Muslims have the right to build mosques big and small wherever they like.”
Hundreds of mosques have popped up all over Spain. But churches, and many residents, complain that big, shiny mosques are more than just centres for culture and worship, and say they are funded by undemocratic countries promoting Islamic radicalism.
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Europa vågn op! Islamisterne bliver frækkere og frækkere i deres krav.
De har meget god grund til at være nervøse.
Mansur Escudero, president of Spain’s Islamic Council said: “Muslims have the right to build mosques big and small wherever they like.”
Udsagnet er særdeles sigende i al sin monumentale frækhed.
Det viser os, at vi igen har med et “racistisk” herrefolk at gøre, et herrefolk der bekender sig til og deler mennesker efter religiøse kretirier, hvor man i 30-erne benyttede racerenhed til at sætte skel. Rene og urene, troende og vantro.
Kunne nogen forestille sig religiøse- eller politiske ledere i muslimske lande, Saudiarabien, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ægypten, Pakistan. Yemen, o.s.v. udtale: “Kristne har ret til i vore lande at bygge kirker, store og små, hvor de ønsker det”. Selv EU-aspiranten Tyrkiet har i dag store problemer, når det kommer til religionsfrihed og ligstilling.