The villagers wanted the mosque more than they wanted the fresh water, so the mosque is what they got — paid for by the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. Constitutional issues? Pah! The U.S. is busy winning hearts and minds here! For surely now all the Friday khutabah that are preached in the mosque will be brimming with love and gratitude for Americans — won’t they?
Won’t they? Well, the Qur’an recited and memorized in this mosque will still preach hatred of Infidels and the obligation Muslims have not to ally with them (3:28, 5:51) — won’t it?
“Zanzibar: US restores 900 year Kizimkazi mosque,” by Jeff Baron in Afrik.com, April 2 (thanks to Twostellas):
The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation has provided support for saving three mosques in Tanzania, including the one near Kizimkazi on the island of Zanzibar that is considered one of the oldest Islamic buildings on the coast of east Africa. The 2008 grant allowed for repairs and restoration of the mosque’s roof, ceiling, doors and windows as well as the mihrab, the ornate alcove that indicates the direction of Mecca.
The mosque at Shumba is one of two on the island of Pemba restored with help from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. […]
A U.S. official who visited Pemba to discuss plans for the project “heard many complaints about the hardships of life in these villages, including the problem of having no access to fresh water,” the proposal said. “But when asked which was a higher priority for the community — access to fresh water or restoration of their historic mosque — the village elders unanimously stated that restoring the mosques was more important.”