Praying in Cordoba I READ last week the story of how Spanish police detained a group of Arabs who attempted to pray in the Cordoba Mosque, built by the Umayyad dynasty in Al-Andalus on the remains of an ancient church and in which prayer was banned by law after the fall of Cordoba to the Spanish in the 13th Gregorian century. The report reminded me of my first trip, with a friend from Jeddah, to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul in Turkey where prayer is similarly banned, and where my friend turned to the qibla and started praying. The place was almost empty and no one stopped him, but he was all the same ready to take on anyone trying to prevent him from performing what he saw as a sacred duty. Some people endorse such actions, while others criticize. I, myself, am in the latter camp, on this and on those who prayed in the Cordoba Mosque, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are laws in both the countries in question barring prayer for Muslims and Christians alike, and the law must be followed whether it is right or wrong. There's a pertinent viewpoint that says that the sentiments of everyone must be taken into account, and just as the building was originally a mosque, so too was it a church before. Secondly, the land of Allah is all a mosque, and the Cordoba Mosque and the Hagia Sophia are not the only ones, so why the provocation? I don't recall seeing my friend pray in the mosque next to his house in Jeddah, so why is he so insistent on praying in that ancient Turkish mosque thousands of miles away from his home? Thirdly, history is no more than events buried in books, or, if you will, nothing more than memories buried in books that don't requiring digging up. The Arabs will not get back Al-Andalus, the Cordoba Mosque will not become a mosque again, and the Hagia Sophia will not return to being a church either. I've seen peoples learn from the experience of history before putting it back to sleep in books, while we rouse it from its slumber and consult it, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck as if it's our savior from the backwardness in which we fumble around. Whoever wants to be a true Muslim, then let him be so in his heart and spirit, without the need to show it to the outside world in a provocative and challenging manner, and without weeping away over what came to an end centuries ago. – Okaz/SG The Spanish press reported that two arrests were made at the Great Mezquita of Cordoba on March 31 after a dozen persons from a group of over 100 Muslims from Austria began praying while on a tourist visit. When asked to stop by security guards and continue their visit to the site, the guards were reportedly attacked, two of them suffering “serious injuries”. Police who were called to the site were also attacked, the press said. One newspaper quoted a policeman as saying that a knife was found on one of those arrested. __
