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Imam
Feisal Abdul Rauf's Cordoba Initiative wants to
build a mosque in New York City within 500 feet of the World Trade
Center's twin towers grave site, ground zero on 911.
Of all possible locations,
why so near ground zero? History provides the answer. Tradition
and force allow the conqueror to place its mark upon the vanquished
territory. |
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The structure
pictured above, known today as
Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Assumption,
located in Cordoba, Spain,
was originally built as a Christian church, then turned into a
mosque, and then returned to being a Christian church. Each
transformation followed a conquering of the region by Muslims and
then Christians. |
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Construction of the
building started around
AD 600 as the Christian Visigothic church of St. Vincent.
Following the Islamic conquest of the
Visigothic Kingdom, Emir Abd ar-Rahman
the First,
bought the church. Beginning in 784, he
and his descendants worked to remake the
building into a mosque.
This work continued for over 200 years. |
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In
the 10th century Córdoba reached its
zenith under the new emir, Abd ar-Rahman
the Third. He was one of the great
rulers of Islamic history, ruling
Córdoba, one of the most prosperous
large cities of Europe. It surpassed
Byzantium and Baghdad in the arts, culture
and science. |
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The region in
which the church / mosque was built
suffered frequent invasions.
With each invasion, the conquering force
added its own marks
upon the building's architecture. |
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In 1236, King Ferdinand
the Third of Castile
conquered Córdoba. |
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After the Spanish Reconquista,
the mosque was
converted into a church, with a Gothic cathedral inserted into the
center of the large Moorish building. |
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When a people are
conquered, the victorious earn the right to mark their newly won
territory. Why was the Cordoba Initiative was so named? Has America
been conquered? |
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If built,
the Cordoba Initiative's mosque 500 feet from the World Trade Center
site will be visible around the world. The promoters of this mosque
intend it to be a symbol of the conquering of America. |