- Mary Elizabeth Hansen
With much fanfare and in the presence of dignitaries from the Islamic world, Granada Spain's first mosque to be built in 500 years was recently dedicated. According to AP reporter, Daniel Woolls, the large, lavish hilltop mosque stands near the Alhambra, the 14 th century palace where Moorish caliphs governed until King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the Moors in 1492. Symbolically, this mosque is of importance because it marks the formal return of Islam to the last Spanish city where the Muslim faith flourished before its followers experienced final expulsion. The mosque, sandwiched between a Roman Catholic Church and a convent, was built after 20 years of legal delays. Libyan money bought the land and the United Arab Emirates paid half of the construction costs of the mosque. Currently, Spain has a Muslim population of 500,000 with about 15,000 residing in the city of Granada.
The humiliation of defeat and explosion from Spain has long been a sore point for those in the Islamic world. Repeatedly, the poster-boy terrorist, Osama bin Laden, has demanded a jihad to return Spain to the Islamic fold. The newly built mosque in Granada must give many in the Islamic world a sense of satisfaction, with hope for more victories to come. This victorious feeling is repeated every time a mosque, school or Islamic center is built in Europe or North America. And, thanks to the freedom of religion enjoyed by all, Islam can build, advertise and convert in the West without restraint or fear of retribution.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said in Muslim countries for religions other than Islam. Churches, religious-affiliated schools and media are either non-existent or severely curtailed in the land of Islam. Converts leaving Islam for other faiths are routinely threatened, jailed and sometimes murdered. Often, a permit to repaint a church wall or repair a church bathroom, takes years to obtain, even in such "moderate" countries as Jordan or Egypt. Living as a dhimmi in an Islamic country is never easy.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, home to over one million guest workers from other countries, permits no official religion except Islam and no religious buildings except those connected with Islam. Guest workers of other faiths are out of luck in the kingdom. Any expression of religion, except Islam, is met with threats, beatings, jail time, and, occasionally, beheading. The Saudis explain their complete lack of tolerance with the simple explanation that their kingdom is all holy Islamic ground and cannot be defiled by other religions. Conveniently, they leave out the fact that Judaism and early Christianity once flourished in their Muslim kingdom. Even now, the sands of the wholly Islamic land will occasionally turn over the remains of an early Christian church, only to be quickly obliterated by bulldozers. The past can come back to haunt even the most Muslim of the Muslim countries, sometimes in the most unexpected ways.
In the Woolls article, a spokesman for the Granada Islamic community stated that with the opening of the new mosque, Islam has gone form being something hidden or invisible in Spanish society to something visible. The dhimmi living in Islamic countries are quite familiar with feelings of invisibility. This is especially true of dhimmis living in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi government officials and their PR spokesmen in the West have made noises lately about changing, opening and reforming. How about a change in the bigoted policy towards its dhimmi guest workers? How about allowing one church to be built and one church bell to ring? The sound of that one bell would be heard around the world and go a long way in convincing the West that the Kingdom is serious about reformation.