Spain Opens First Mosque in 500 Years

[DUreader]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2892107,00.html



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.

[damnraddem]

1. The current pope wants to canonize Isabella as a saint.

He wants to make a saint of the monster who oversaw the expulsion not just of the Muslims from Spain but also of all Jews who would not convert -- and Jewish communities had existed in Spain from before the Christian era, before the Roman conquest. And the thousands of Jews who did 'convert'? These 'new Christians' were subjected to centuries of prejudice and special attention from the institution set up largely to assure their 'orthodoxy': the Spanish Inquisition. It's a sorry chapter in world history, a blotch on the honor of Spain, a monument to religious fanaticism combined with secular greed and will to power, a travesty that the re-establishment of a mosque in Spain can only emphasize, not atone for. I'm happy for the Muslims of Granada. I remain horrified by the continued praise heaped on Isabella by her church.

[itcfish]

2. They Want To Canonize Antonio Gaudi

Don´t ask me why, he was an architect http://www.eclesiales.org/english/archive/0003-2.htm