UAE ruler demands ‘the return of the Mosque of Córdoba’ after Hagia Sophia conversion - Robert Spencer

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by Robert Spencer

The demands will never stop. And when one bows to intimidation, one will only get more intimidation. But no one realizes that in the West these days.

“Muslims Claim Córdoba Cathedral,” by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, July 24, 2020:

ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – The ruler of Sharjah — the third largest and third most populous city in the United Arab Emirates — is demanding the conversion of Córdoba’s Catholic cathedral into a mosque days after Turkey ordered the Islamic takeover of Hagia Sophia basilica.Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign of one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told Sharjah News that Córdoba Cathedral, located in the Spanish region of Andalusia, was “a gift” to Christians “who do not deserve it.”
“They do not own it” since the cathedral “belongs to Muslims,” His Highness Sheikh Sultan III insisted in an interview on July 16.
The ruler said he was demanding “the return of the Mosque of Córdoba, which was granted to the Church.”
El Día de Córdoba news noted that Córdoba Cathedral “had been used on several occasions to justify the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque,” by senior Turkish officials, as well as Muslim historians and theologians.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu told public broadcaster TRT that “the Córdoba Mosque in Spain, built as a mosque in the eighth century, was converted into a church in the 13th century.”
“Is it used as a church today? Yes. Is it on the World Heritage list? Yes,” he argued.
Turkish historian Lütfi Seyban pointed out that Muslims cannot pray in the Córdoba Cathedral, where Mass is celebrated.

‘Ignorance of History’

Speaking to Church Militant, eminent Islamic historian Robert Spencer said that “attempts to draw an equivalency between Hagia Sophia and the Córdoba Cathedral are based on ignorance of history.”
“The Córdoba Cathedral was indeed once a mosque. But that mosque was originally built on the site of a Visigothic church that the invading Muslims destroyed,” Spencer explained.
“If we’re going to go back to the original use of both lands, then both Hagia Sophia and the Córdoba Cathedral should be cathedrals,” affirmed the author of The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS.
Spencer added:

But there is an old Islamic adage, “Islam must dominate, and not be dominated,” and that is what we see at work here. As far as the Sharjah sultan is concerned, any building that was once a mosque should always be a mosque, as Islam must be ever-growing, ever-expanding (hence its affinity for the color green, the color of spring, of growth).

In his media interview, Sheikh Sultan III claimed that “the municipality gave the mosque to the Church, who is the current owner of the Córdovan edifice.”…

Robert Spencer

Source: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/07/uae-ruler-demands-the-return-of-the-mosque-of-cordoba-after-hagia-sophia-conversion

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