Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Church buys Cordoba mosque for 30 Euro

Cordoba Mosque“They have stolen the Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba.” Junta Islamica (JI), the Spanish national non-profit organization of the faithful of Allah, has returned to the fray over the infamous temple, built twelve centuries ago by Abderrahmán I and declared a World Heritage site by Unesco in 1984. 

For many years the JI has fruitlessly asked for permission to pray in front of the Mihrab, the niche that holds a golden copy of the Koran, as well as requesting shared religious use of the basilica. 

Now, after the bishop’s “no” the JI is accusing the Church of “snatching” this wonderful architectural masterpiece comprising 850 marble columns, by paying the ridiculous sum of 30 Euro.

“The theft was possible thanks to two miracles,” the JI website Webislam accuses. "In 1998, Spain's former populist Prime Minister, Aznar, changed the hypothecation law, thereby allowing the Church to take control of public buildings, despite the fact that they are the heritage of all Spanish people, and also to avail itself of a building of 23,400 meters right in the centre of the city without spending a cent, because not only does it not pay the IBI (the Spanish property tax) but it does not pay the conservation expenses either.” 

The hypothecation law in issue is still that which was enforced in 1946, with which Spain's faithful dictator Francisco Franco allowed the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) to register the possession of some assets without owner, “with the exception of the temples assigned to the catholic faith.” 

To such aim, the Caudillo decided in article 206 that, without public notification and notary public, it was enough for the bishop to declare that the asset belonged to the Church. Surprisingly, at the end of the 90's the populist Prime Minister, Aznar, removed the exceptions. 

“From 1998 the CEE has appropriated hundreds of basilicas, like the one in Cordova. And the former socialist Prime Minister, Zapatero, in his eight years of government, did not change the law”, complains the Junta Islámica. Then it stresses how the lack of fiscal contribution by the CEE to the IBI, in such a moment of acute economic crisis, is estimated at three billion Euro per year. 

But this is not all. The Muslims - who were angered because in 2010 the Bishop of Cordoba, Demetrio Fernández, wanted to remove the double title of Cathedral-Mosque from the fantastic building (erected on the site of the ancient Basilica of Saint Vincent Martyr, destroyed by the Muslims in the year 711) - also criticize the fact that it is tax-exempt, because the eight million Euro earned annually though the sale of the eight-Euro tickets to tourists is considered a “donation.”