إسبانيا: استمرار الصراع بين المسلمين والنصارى على مسجد قرطبة

خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.

ما يزال الصراع بين مسلمي الأندلس والنصارى للاستحواذ على "مسجد قرطبة" يشهد تطورات كبيرة؛ فقد اتجه المسلمون وكذلك الكنيسة لجمع توقيعات لتأييد موقفهما، وهو ما أثار استنكار الكنيسة الكاثوليكية التي أكدت أن المسجد ملكية عامة لا ينبغي الصراع على تخصيصه.

وقد زعمت الكنيسة امتلاكها المسجد في عام 2006، وعملت على طمس معالم المسجد والتراث الإسلامي به، وهو ما دفع المسلمين للمعارضة القضائية وجمع 156 ألف توقيع على يد أفراد جماعة "أنقذوا مسجد قرطبة"، للحفاظ على حالته وهُويته، وهو ما أثار الكنيسة لحشد النصارى في صفها وجمع 96 ألف توقيع لتأييد موقفها.

وجدير بالذكر أن المسلمين بنوا المسجد عام 784م، إلا أنه تم تحويله إلى كنيسة بعد استيلاء النصارى عليه عام 1236 خلال فترة محاكم التفتيش؛ المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

يرجى الإشارة إلى المصدر عند نقل الخبر - شبكة الألوكة.

الخبر من مصدره الأصلي:

Rival Spanish groups rally for status of Cordoba Mosque

The issue of ownership over the Great Mosque of Cordoba, an ongoing debate in the southern Spanish province of Andalusia, has taken on new dimensions, as rival political group set out to collect signatures over its status.

The Catholic church in Spain has been criticized by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike for attempting to privatize of the mosque, which is legally recognized as public property.

In 2006, the church claimed ownership of the mosque without government approval, and has since then been trying to cover up and distort its Islamic heritage by advertising it as a cathedral as entry tickets sold to tourists read “Welcome to the Santa Iglesia Cathedral”.

This has prompted Andalusia's Socialist regional government to consider taking legal action to protect the public ownership of the cultural asset, while a petition campaign by the ‘Save the Cordoba Mosque’ group to preserve the mosque's status has collected around 156,000 signatures so far.

“Over the past few years, the Diocese of Cordoba has erased the term 'mosque' from all the information leaflets of what is recognized worldwide as a symbol of cultural harmony,” states the petition leaflet, urging citizens to support their cause while accusing the church of distorting facts.

Meanwhile, the church has been conducting its own petition to support its position on the mosque, appealing to largely conservative circles. So far the HazteOir group is estimated that to have collected around 96,000 signatures.

The local archbishopric is in the process of registering itself as the owner of the mosque, which by the year 2016 would be irreversable if the church gets its way.

“For the citizens of Cordoba, what has hurt our feelings is that they have cut off the name and the memory of the monument,” Antonio Manuel Rodriguez, a law professor at Cordoba University, was quoted as saying by OnIslam.

Claiming that the church was exploiting a loop-hole in land ownership laws, the professor said that the Catholic authorities were “administrating the monument in an abusive way” and putting its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in danger.

Originally built as a mosque in the year 784 by Spain's Muslim rulers, the building was later converted into a cathredral after the city fell in 1236 during the Spanish Inquisition, which saw millions of native Muslims slaughtered, banished and forced to convert to Catholicism.