The ruler of Sharjah, among the lesser of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, has apparently been so impressed with Turkish President Erdogan’s turning Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque that he has “demanded” – not asked, but demanded – that the cathedral in Cordoba be turned again into a mosque.
The story is here.
The ruler of the UAE emirate Sharjah Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi demanded Cordoba Cathedral in Spain be restored to a mosque on Thursday, [July 17] Arabi21 reported.
The former Cordoba mosque has been a cathedral since 1236. That cathedral was built within the mosque’s outer walls, and made use of the mosque’s interior supporting columns, thereby avoiding damage to them. In his peremptory “demand,” the Sharjah ruler forgets, or likely does not know, that the mosque itself was built by Abd al-Rahman in 784 on top of a pre-existing Visigoth church, the Catholic Christian Basilica of Saint Vincent of Lérins, that originally stood on the site. In 784, Abd al-Rahman I ordered the conversion of the church into a mosque.
Surely that means we are entitled to go back, not only before the period of the Cathedral, but back, too, before the Great Mosque of Cordoba was built, to the Visigothic church that was the original structure. If there were to be any change to the status of the Cordoba cathedral, it should recognize that the first building on the site was not a mosque, but a church. Which means that the Christians, not the Muslims, have priority. It’s part of the argument that can be thrown back in the face of the Sharjah ruler Sultan Al Qasimi. But in any case, there is not the slightest chance that the Spanish government would accede to the demand that the cathedral be turned again into a mosque.
The Emirati leader said in an interview shared by Sharjah News: “At the very least, we demand the return of Cordoba Mosque, which was granted to the church, as this is a gift which doesn’t belong to those who don’t deserve it.”
The Cordoba Mosque was never “granted to the church”; it was not a “gift” from the Muslims, but was seized from the Muslim invaders who had settled in Spain, by Christian warriors during their 700-year-long Reconquista.
This contradicts statements made by other Emirati officials criticising Turkey for its decision to convert the Hagia Sophia to a mosque.
Of all the Muslim countries, the UAE has been the most critical of Turkey’s decision to make Hagia Sophia a mosque again. And in the UAE, it has been Noura Al Kaabi, the Minister of Culture and Youth, who has been most outspoken.
“Humanity’s cultural landmarks should be preserved for their value and function, and must ” neither be misused nor altered ” for personal purposes, said Noura Al Kaabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Culture and Youth.
For Al Kaabi, the decision of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to turn the Basilica of Saint Sophia, now a museum, into a mosque deeply “touches the human essence” because the Unesco heritage site has “exceptional international value” for “all peoples and cultures.”
The UAE Minister for Culture attacked any change to its status, which showed a disregard for its historical and human value, and she noted that it served “as a bridge connecting different peoples and cementing their bonds”. Saint Sophia, she explained, “is a unique witness to the interaction between Asia and Europe across centuries. It is a symbol of dialogue.”
While Al-Kaabi’s words against the reversion of Hagia Sophia to its previous status as a mosque are welcome, they are not quite true. Hagia Sophia did not “serve as a bridge connecting different peoples and cementing their bonds,” but was a symbol of Muslim supremacy during the almost five centuries when it served as a mosque. Nor was it a symbol of “dialogue,” but a symbol, rather, of deep Muslim hostility to Christianity. The bells, altar, iconostasis, ambo and baptistery were removed, and relics destroyed. The mosaics depicting Jesus, his mother Mary, Christian saints, and angels were eventually destroyed or plastered over. Crucifixes were destroyed. Christians were prevented from visiting the mosque. None of this bespeaks the “dialogue” to which Al Kaabi so touchingly, but inaccurately, refers.
What Al-Kaabi might have said was this: “At different times in its history Hagia Sophia has been a church and a mosque. It then became – and should remain – a museum, for as a museum it is of exceptional value to Muslims and Christians alike, a unique witness to the interaction of peoples, and a symbol of what one hopes may become a real dialogue.”
Besides Al-Kaabi, there have been other Emirati officials who were critical of the reconversion of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.
Emirati academic Abdul Khaleq Abdullah criticised the Grand Mufti of Oman for blessing the Turkish move, calling Erdogan a “malicious Ottoman” on Twitter.
Others have noted that “it has been a Catholic site since the Christian reconquest of the city in 1236, after which a cathedral was built inside the building.
Regarded as one of the finest monuments of Moorish architecture, the mosque-cathedral was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1984.
The Cordoba Cathedral does not hide the Moorish origins of the building; almost nothing of the original mosque had been damaged in building the cathedral inside it, and those visiting the cathedral are made well aware not only of its history as a church, but also of the history of the mosque that preceded it, both by tour guides and pamphlets available onsite. Without a formal declaration of its status, the Cordoba Cathedral does double duty as both church and museum, and visiting Muslims should be pleased at the extensive attention now given to the building’s pre-cathedral status as a mosque.
That solicitous attention already being given onsite to the Cordoba Cathedral’s previous history as a mosque won’t satisfy the Sultan of Sharjah. But the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai were displeased by Erdogan’s mosque move, which surely means that they would not support the Sharjah Sultan’s demand for the Cathedral in Cordoba to again become a mosque. And among the seven Emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only ones that really count.
Buraq says
Based on this criterion, wouldn’t that mean that Temple Mount should be reconsecrated as a Synagogue?
RichardL says
only after erasing the pus-filled boil desecrating the Holy of Holies.
Charlie in NY says
That would require that the countries of the EU stand up for Jewish rights which would require a 180 degree change in their strategy of surrendering the Jews to appease the Muslims and stop them from making mischief in Europe itself.
It would also require Europe to face its ingrained antisemitism forthrightly. So, I’m pretty confident all you will hear from the EU about the Temple Mount is that the unilateral restrictions on Jewish presence there, oddly known as the “status quo”, continue and that all the false Arab claims about al-Aqsa being in danger from the Jews will never be publicly refuted as the dangerous lie it is.
Marc Gonzalves says
Yes, it would mean that.
Solomon’s Temple should be rebuilt.
Cock Paul says
LOL
revereridesagain says
Certainly worth investigating.
mortimer says
Buraq raises the argument of Erdogan based on MAJORITY RULE and applies it Temple Mount. Two can play the same game. Erdogan is a thoughtless, spontaneous man has not thought this through.
Erdogan has given the counterjihad one of the best and most convincing arguments yet to validate our claim that ISLAM IS THE MOST INTOLERANT RELIGION.
James Lincoln says
mortimer says,
“Erdogan has given the counterjihad one of the best and most convincing arguments yet to validate our claim that ISLAM IS THE MOST INTOLERANT RELIGION.”
I think that it was well validated even before this latest move by Turkey…
Jerry says
Amen
RichardL says
Every time I was in Cordoba, I refused to enter that building because it is officially referred to as the Mezquita-Catedral de Cordoba. Mosque first! Andalucia is my favourite part of Spain (I lived there) but they, like the Catalans, have always elected socialists and socialist love the enemies of Catholics, the allahists.
revereridesagain says
Well that’s horrifying, and me an atheist. So that puts the cathedral at risk due to the ignorance and misplaced pride of its own people? Wonder how they’ll enjoy having been re-reconquista’d a few decades hence, or will they be too busy trying to work hard enough to pay the jizya?
Fools, it appears, just have to learn everything the hard way.
Angel Garcia Hernandez's says
Dreaming, my and my fellow Spaniards will kick your arses across the strait of Gibraltar as we did before
J Morgan says
Be sure to invite the Pope!
Keys says
And then, why not St. Peters Basilica in Rome ?
For Muslims it will never be enough until all the world is for Allah. That’s their creed.
gravenimage says
Nowhere is safe.
mortimer says
Islam began with the confiscation of the Kaaba from its owners and its conversion into an exclusive club for Islam. Thereupon, Mohammed sent out his followers to destroy all temples in Arabia. Once that was done, they headed out to other regions. The important Damascus Church of St John the Baptist was also turned into a mosque. Thousands of Hindu temples were stolen, then demolished or turned into mosques.
Islam confiscated many thousands of religious sites, but modern Muslims want to pretend this did not happen and that it is not normative Islam, but an aberration from Islam. Unfortunately, stealing and/or destroying sacred buildings and religious art is normative in Islam.
gravenimage says
I think modern Muslims mostly want to spout Taqiyya so we don’t learn how vicious Islam is.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage says,
So true, and most Westerners lap this Taqiyya crap up…
gravenimage says
Grimly true, James.
SAFI says
The UAE(which has outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood) is currently engaged in a proxy war against Turkey and turkish supported M-B forces in Libya. Just a few days ago on July 5 2020 Libya’s al-Watiya airbase which was housing turkish personel and equipment was bombed by what are suspected to have been UAE fighter jets. This conflinct explains why unlike some other islamic regimes the UAE did not come out in support of Erdogan “liberating” the “Ayasofya Mosque”
Phil Copson says
“….there is not the slightest chance that the Spanish government would accede to the demand that the cathedral be turned again into a mosque….”
——————————————————-
Can we be so sure of that ? the Leftist would-be government of separatist Catalonia promised muslims that they would be given the biggest mosque outside the Middle East in return for supporting Catalonian independence: Would those Spanish politicians be remotely bothered about giving over Catalonian buildings consecrated to the Christian religion they despise, to the practitioners of a religion whose aggression they seek to co-opt ?
mortimer says
How can a serious leader like Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi speak without doing historical research and without weighing the effect of his uninformed words?
Al Qasimi has merely undermined his authority and credibility while speaking on ANY TOPIC. This will undermine his ability to deal FINANCIALLY. His word won’t be believed … he makes up whatever suits him.
The Umayyad caliphate in southern Spain destroyed virtually ALL churches and exiled most of the Christian population to north Africa.
The distrust of Islam in Spain has been profound in the last 500 years due to the previous 700 years of Islamic persecution of Christians in Spain.
Islam made life hell on earth for Jews and Christians in Spain.
gravenimage says
Sadly, though, too few in Spain today learn anything about their history.
gravenimage says
After Hagia Sophia, Muslim Ruler Wonders, Why Not the Cordoba Cathedral?
……………
This does not surprise–Erdogan himself said that turning Hagia Sophia into a Mosque was the precursor to reconquering large swatch of the world:
“Erdogan: ‘Resurrection of Hagia Sophia’ heralds ‘return of freedom to al-Aqsa,’ revival of Islam Uzbekistan to Spain”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/07/erdogan-resurrection-of-hagia-sophia-heralds-return-of-freedom-to-al-aqsa-revival-of-islam-uzbekistan-to-spain
kami-sama says
All of those Muslims who are condemning this would be the first ones to kill an apostate or any one who dares to speak truth about islam , it’s just nothing more than opposition for the Muslim brotherhood that Erdogan supports which threatens their tyrannical rule with the Khalifate
OLD GUY says
Give an inch and they will want a mile. Every time you give in to islam/muslims they see it as weakness and will continue their attack against your society. You can never forget they consider themselves as the super race and feel they have the right to dominate, enslave and decide who lives and dies.