7/9/2008
the minaret: a sign of power and dominion
The organisers of the petition argue that the minarets, which are used on mosques, are a symbol of political and religious claims to power, not just a religious sign.
Schlüer said last year: “We’ve got nothing against prayer rooms or mosques for the Muslims. But a minaret is different. It’s got nothing to do with religion; it’s a symbol of political power.” — from this news story
Of course the minaret is not necessary. Wahhabi mosques don’t have minarets at all, and disapprove of them. It cannot be argued that Muslims need to have minarets from which a non-existent muezzin will utter the Call To Prayer (which is not permitted because of sound zoning laws), or that they need them even where a Call To Prayer is allowed, since if it is played and then amplified electronically, there is no conceivable need for height.
Are there any devices that tell the time in Switzerland? Yes, there are. Do Muslims all over the world now have access to clocks, and watches? Yes, they do. Do they possess, on their calendars, in their fancy agenda books (oh, those rich Arabs, with their briefcases and their agenda books, and their Rolex watches, and their everything, all of it so completely, grotesquely, underearned, unmerited), or even homelier models for the just-us-folks Muslims, telling them the exact time of each of the five canonical prayers, in the tiniest town or village anywhere in the world? Of course they do.
The minaret is merely a sign of power. It is a sign of dominion over the nearby churches and synagogues. Why do you think that, according to the Shari’a, no church or synagogue can be built higher than a nearby mosque? Why do you think that mosques were always built on the highest ground? For a nice example, see the mosque in Grenada that was opened a few years ago. The Spanish government thought it would be a great idea. They thought it would be a demonstration of real “tolerance” for Muslims that would somehow be reciprocated. Of course it wasn’t. That mosque looms over a convent and a church, and with its Call to Prayer has disrupted the quiet lives of the nuns, who actually dared to protest. To no avail. Of course.
Minarets are claims of power. They are claims to dominance.
Read it all.
