Os minaretes e o adhan

Uma das funções dos minaretes - para além do que representam política e culturalmente, o domínio do islão -, é servir de lugar para o chamamento à oração (salah), o adhan.
Feito tradicionalmente pelo muezzin do topo do minarete, hoje o adhan é entoado com o auxílio de sistemas de amplificação de som ou difundido por meios exclusivamente electrónicos.

O adhan é uma prática islâmica anterior à construção de minaretes, remontando ao início do islão, ao contrário das polémicas edificações que são posteriores à morte do profeta Mafoma. Ambas as tradições islâmicas têm impacto no espaço público: uma impacto visual; outra sonoro.
Não faz qualquer sentido, do ponto de vista da liberdade religiosa, da liberdade de culto e da presença da religião no espaço público, permitir a construção de minaretes e proibir a difusão do adhan.

O que se torna necessário é que cada cidadão perceba o impacto que o islão já tem na sociedade europeia e até que ponto estamos dispostos a permitir que a liberdade religiosa, não reciprocamente aplicada, permita a instituição de estados islâmicos de facto, num primeiro momento, de jure, quando o número de muçulmanos for suficiente para forçar mudanças legislativas, inclusive constitucionais ou, caso essa via falhe, leve à secessão das áreas maioritariamente islâmicas dos países europeus.
Isto já aconteceu no subcontinente indiano, região onde os domínios coloniais britânicos deram origem à criação de dois estados, constituídos de acordo com linhas de separação religiosa, a União Indiana, de maioria hindu, e o Paquistão, de maioria muçulmana, dividido em Paquistão Ocidental e Oriental, o qual se veio a tornar independente dando origem ao Bangladesh.
Mais recentemente, assistimos à secessão do Cosovo, parte integrante do território sérvio e região culturalmente importante para os sérvios, com o apoio activo da U(RSS)E e dos EUA. Ocorre em diversos países de África, por vezes dando origem a sangrentas guerras civis, assim como nas Filipinas e na Tailândia.
Podemos também considerar as chamadas no go areas - zonas de cidades europeias onde o poder de facto já não pertence às autoridades dos respectivos países, mas à umá, onde a sharia é lei (e.g. Marselha, Rosenborg) -, como áreas em situação de pré-secessão.

Vem isto a propósito de um par de notícias que dão conta das pretensões muçulmanas de emitir o adhan em diversas mesquitas na Europa, ou deveria dizer Eurábia?



Uma vez soa bem, e até se pode ouvir mais vezes; mas agora multiplique por 5 - de madrugada (antes das 5 horas), ao meio-dia, a meio da tarde, ao pôr-do-sol e à noite (antes da meia-noite)-; multiplique ainda pelo número de mesquitas à volta, cada um emitindo o seu, e acredite: é uma cacofonia insuportável, sem o charme das primeiras audições.
Basta ver a reacção dos europeus que são submetidos a semelhante tratamento.
Alguns invocam as leis do ruído como instrumento para moderar o fervor sonoro muçulmano. Esquecem-se que as leis dos kuffar (infiéis) não prevalecem perante a sharia, única lei, baseada no Corão e na Suná.

Minaretes no Al-Andalus

Resolvi fazer este postal para dar destaque a uma passagem de um texto para cuja divulgação fiz um postal há pouco tempo - dado que o texto é extenso e a passagem podia passar despercebida - e para estabelecer uma ligação entre três temas por aqui abordados recentemente: os minaretes - como símbolo de domínio religioso e/ou civil do islão -, a idealização do Al-Andalus e a intenção expressa de vários grupos muçulmanos de reconquistar a Península Ibérica - território reclamado pelo islão, de acordo com a doutrina islâmica segundo a qual um território que tenha estado sob o domínio muçulmano pertence ao islão eternamente e é dever dos muçulmanos piedosos reconquistá-lo -; e a predilecção do islão pela prática da decapitação.
Eis então a citação:

«(...) Yusuf b. Tashfin (d. 1106) led the Al-Murabit (Almoravid) Empire to conquer from western Sahara to central Spain. After the battle of Zallaqa in 1086, he had 24,000 corpses of the defeated Castilians beheaded "and piled them up to make a sort of minaret for the muezzins who, standing on the piles of headless cadavers, sang the praises of Allah." [22] He then had the detached heads sent to all the major cities of North Africa and Spain as an example of Christian impotence. The Al-Murabits were conquered the following century by the Al-Muwahhids (Almohads), under whose rule Castilian Christian enemies were beheaded after any lost battles. (...)»

Fica magnificamente demonstrado, num parágrafo, que três mitos à volta do islão - religião de paz, minaretes como simples objectos arquitectónicos e o Al-Andalus como espaço de sã convivência entre cristãos e muçulmanos e de elevação civilizacional da responsabilidade destes - não passam de isso mesmo.

Povo suíço proíbe minaretes

Cerca de 57% dos suíços decidiram em referendo proibir a construção de minaretes nas mesquitas do país. O povo decidiu contra a classe política, contra o politicamente correcto, contra o medo de parecer retrógrado e ultramontano, contra o medo de represálias, tudo boas razões (para além da questão dos minaretes em si mesma) para votar no sentido em que os suíços o fizeram.

Estarão os suíços a voltar-se contra os princípios que professam defender, ao limitar a liberdade dos muçulmanos de construir templos ao modo que querem? Será isso uma violação da liberdade religiosa?
Pode ser, mas há princípios que as pessoas devem respeitar antes de deles quererem usufruir. Concretamente, os muçulmanos sabem que a sua religião e os estados que por ela se orientam não reconhecem aos cristãos e aos judeus o direito à plena liberdade religiosa, nem o direito à plena cidadania, já para não falar dos politeístas e dos ateus, que são ainda mais mal tratados. Num quadro destes, como pode um muçulmano reclamar o direito a usufruir da mesma liberdade que a sua religião, mais amplamente a sua civilização, não reconhece aos outros?

Como outros já observaram, esperemos que este referendo constitua o ponto de viragem da islamização da Europa, que seja uma afirmação da vontade dos povos europeus de defender a sua civilização e a sua cultura, que seja o estabelecer de um limite a partir do qual o Islão não há-de passar.

Viva a Suíça!

Ver Princípio da Reciprocidade e Princípio da Reciprocidade - adenda e Liberdade Religiosa.

Povo suíço proíbe minaretes (4)

Soeren Kern, no Pajamas Media, numa peça anterior ao referendo, relata as circunstâncias que levaram à sua convocação:

«(...) The current controversy dates back to 2005, when the Turkish cultural association in Wangen bei Olten, a small town of some 4,500 people in northern Switzerland, applied for a permit to erect a 6-meter (20 feet) high minaret on the roof of its Islamic community center. The project to build the minaret, which was opposed by the majority of local residents, was roundly rejected by the town’s building and planning commission. But the Turkish cultural association appealed the decision, claiming that the local building authorities were motivated by religious bias. The case eventually made its way to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, which in 2007 ruled that the project could proceed apace. The minaret was finally erected in July 2009.

Up until recently, Muslims living in Switzerland had mostly been keeping a low profile, preferring to practice their religion discretely in nondescript mosques. But over the past several years the number of mosques has mushroomed; there now are some 200 mosques and up to 1,000 prayer rooms dotted around the country. And although only four of those have minarets (plans to build a half-dozen more minarets are currently pending approval), observers say the minarets symbolize the growing self-confidence of Switzerland’s Muslim community. (...)»

À medida que a população muçulmana cresce, vai fazendo mais exigências.
E porque será que os suíços vêem os minaretes como símbolos do avanço do Islão? Porque os muçulmanos os consideram isso mesmo:

«(...) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, (...) once implied that the construction of mosques and minarets is part of a strategy for the Islamization of Europe. The pro-Islamic Erdogan said: “The minarets are our bayonets, the domes our helmets, the mosques our barracks and the faithful our army.” (...)»

Aí está: os suíços fizeram aquilo que os restantes europeus e os americanos se recusam a fazer: levar a sério o que os próprios muçulmanos dizem e fazem.

Povo suíço proíbe minaretes (2)

Algumas reacções ao resultado do referendo suíço que ditou a proibição da construção de minaretes nas mesquitas da Suiça recolhidas pelo blogue Islam in Europe.

Via Muslims Against Sharia.

Minaretes enquanto símbolo de domínio

O referendo suíço trouxe para primeiro plano a questão dos minaretes.

Sobre o objecto arquitectónico e o que representa, ler a Brill Encyclopedia of Islam citada por Andrew Bostom:

“It seems on the whole unrelated to its function of the adhān [q.v.] calling the faithful to prayer, which can be made quite adequately from the roof of the mosque or even from the house-top. During the lifetime of the Prophet, his Abyssinian slave Bilāl [q.v.], was responsible for making the call to prayer in this way. The practice continued for another generation, a fact which demonstrates that the minaret is not an essential part of Islamic ritual. To this day, certain Islamic communities, especially the most orthodox ones like the Wahhābīs in Arabia, avoid building minarets on the grounds that they are ostentatious and unnecessary. … It must be remembered, however, that throughout the mediaeval period, the role of the minaret oscillated between two polarities: as a sign of power and as an instrument for the adhān.”

[Re: Ottoman minarets]: “These gigantic, needle-sharp lances clustered protectively, like a guard of honour, around the royal dome, have a distinctly aggressive and ceremonial impact, largely dependent on their almost unprecedented proportions; the pair of minarets flanking the Süleymaniye dome are each some 70m. high.”

Povo suíço proíbe minaretes (5)

Tawfik Hamid tem também uma palavra a dizer sobre o referendo suíço que decretou a proibição de construir novos minaretes:

«(...) 3. It seems strange that Muslims would insist on building minarets for mosques in Switzerland while thousands of mosques exist inside the Muslim world without minarets. The minarets are seen by many as representing the superiority of Islam, especially when they are taller than the churches; this sheds some light on the hidden intentions of Muslims who insist on building minarets in the heart of Europe. It is important that Muslims in Switzerland explain why they insist on using such historical symbols of Muslim superiority when it is neither mentioned in the Koran nor considered vital to building a mosque. (...)»

Lede tudo.

Via Bivouac-ID.

Povo suíço proíbe minaretes (3)

Reacção do comité Egerkinger, promotor do referendo:

«The Egerkinger Commitee who launched the minaret ban initiative, welcomes the vote in favour of a minaret ban by the Swiss Sovereign.

It was decided, that no further minarets are to be build in Switzerland. And the call of the muezzin is not to be heard.

With the “Yes!” to a ban on minarets the people confirmed that Swiss Law also applies to all immigrants without any curtailments. And any attempt to implement parts of sharia law in Switzerland has thereby been uncompromisingly rejected. Forced marriages – also if carried out during a stay on foreign ground – have no validity for persons with legal residence in Switzerland. And the same applies to other elements of sharia. The basic rights of freedom which are mandatory in Switzerland have been consolidated.

The “Yes!” to the minaret ban by the Swiss sovereign – our highest political entity – is now to be implemented in its exact wording. The Professorial ideas about undermining its actual implementation by filing a complaint to the European Courts of Justice, which were aired during the campaign, are unacceptable and a breach of constitutional law. Officials of the law, who are reluctant to enforce the expressed will of the Swiss Sovereign are to be discharged.

The Egerkinger Commitee observes with content that the public debate about the minaret ban – contrary to all the biased doomsaying of the opposition – has been passionate indeed, but orderly and our direct democracy worthy. The ones who went out of line, were the people who attempted to halt free speech regarding the issue, at times even through use of illicit means.

The role played by church-officials during the debate has been alarming. The neglect of their duty to counter the persecution of Christians especially in muslim lands, stands in disquieting contrast to their hasty partisanship against a ban on minarets

The Egerkinger Commitee

Walter Wobmann, National Council of
Switzerland

Dr. Ulrich Schüler, National Council of Switzerland

29. November 2009

(Many many thanks for the Translation: Frank
Kitman)»

Notável a clareza e a lucidez do comunicado.
Uma lástima a posição da Igreja, que continua a negar a sabedoria acumulada durante séculos de confronto com o Islão.

Via Vlad Tepes.

Minaretes e suas mequitas

Sobre a escolha do local em que são construídas as mesquitas, excerto de uma boa peça de Seth J. Frantzman no Jerusalem Post.

«(...) A survey of historical placement of mosques in important cities and newly conquered Muslim lands, as well as a survey of the placement of mosques in diverse neighborhoods, shows that their placement is anything but random and that strikingly often they are built next to the houses of prayer or the neighborhoods of non-Muslims.

Across the Middle East and the Muslim world the existence of the minaret is taken for granted. Sometimes square and stout as they are in North Africa, or tall, skinny and cylindrical as they are in Turkey and Eastern Europe, they are the symbol of the Muslim world. Yet their commonness leads people to take them for granted.

According to architecture historian Prof. Keppel A.C. Creswell, the minaret was first developed after the Umayyad dynasty (661-750) came in contact with church towers of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Photos of old Syriac churches show what appears to be a conical tower identical to a minaret. Creswell claimed that "having heard that the Jews used a horn and the Christians a naqus or clapper, [Muslims] wanted something equivalent for their own use."

The Umayyads also were the first to construct mosques atop or next to famous Christian and Jewish holy sites. In Damascus they turned the Church of St. John the Baptist into a mosque between 705 and 715. In 638 when Caliph Omar prayed near, but not in, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, he noted; "If I had prayed in the church it would have been lost to you, for the believers [Muslims] would have taken it saying: Omar prayed here." He was prescient, for the Mosque of Omar was eventually built directly opposite the 13th century entrance to the church. Also inJerusalem construction was begun on the Aksa Mosque in 690. It was constructed over what had been the Church of Our Lady and before that, the Jewish Temple's storehouse.

Further afield mosques were built atop the giant Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul (then Constantinople) in the 15th century by the Ottomans and the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was constructed over the Temple of the Hindu god Ram in the 16th century by the Mughals in India. The Great Mosque of Gaza was built first in the 7th century atop a Byzantine church and then rebuilt in the 13th century atop a Crusader church.

THE MOSQUE and its minaret are symbols of power. The giant brick tower of Qutb Minar in Delhi is 72 meters high and until recent times was the world's tallest minaret. It was constructed by the sultans of Delhi to celebrate their victory and conquest of the city.

Even in more obscure locations, the building of minarets has served as an expression of power and influence. The center of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem has long been the Hurva Synagogue which was constructed and reconstructed several times between 1700 and the present. But attached to this great synagogue is a mosque whose minaret is intentionally taller than the Hurva's dome.

The America Colony Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah has a mosque next door to it. The Western Wall of Jerusalem has a mosque perched atop its northern end. The Mount of Olives Jewish graveyard has a mosque which adjoins it. Jeremiah's Grotto in eastJerusalem, which was for a long time a pilgrimage site, now obscured by the east Jerusalem central bus station, also has a mosque at its entrance. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has a large mosque just across from it on Manger Square, constructed in a town which at the time was 80 percent Christian. A controversy over Muslim attempts to build a mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth led to riots in 2002. In each of these cases the mosques were built after the non-Muslim building was constructed.

The building of mosques is not always an expression of power, but historically and today in mixed communities mosques are constructed with a view toward the non-Muslim other. This author is even familiar with a family of Palestinian communists in the West Bank where a mosque was, not coincidentally, constructed next door to their house.

It becomes blatantly obvious in a community like Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem, where almost every other mosque is situated next to a Christian building or former holy site. The next time one sees a mosque, he should not take it for granted. Many of them have a history and geographicalplacement that is not coincidental and which serves as an expression of political Islam and its aspirations.»

A torre de uma igreja ortodoxa e um minarete na parte de Chipre ocupada pelos turcos.

Via Atlas Shrugs.