The Cordoba House and the Caliphate

Disregarding all the arguments about the cultural center/mosque to be known as the Cordoba House wants to build at Ground Zero, I was struck by one thing in particular: The name of the cultural center.

What, I wondered, was the significance of the city of Cordoba?

The Caliphate of Córdoba (Arabic: خلافة قرطبة Khilāfat Qurṭuba) ruled the Iberian peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031.

Oh.

So an organization that bills itself as a moderate Islamic society that wants to build bridges between Islam and the West chooses to name the center after—the capital of the Islamic Caliphate.

Because that simply screams “moderate” to me.

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6 Responses to The Cordoba House and the Caliphate

  1. Pamela says:

    There is nothing moderate regarding Islam.

  2. Reader says:

    I believe there is more than what you say in this name. You’ll need to doublecheck this, but from what I understand, Cordoba is the name of a mosque built in Spain to celebrate the conquering of Spain. Also, it is a muslim tradition to build a mosque where territory has been conquered.

    I suppose that since a piece of a 911 airplane fell right on the proposed Mosque’s site, this is as close as muslims can come to building a triumph mosque on Ground Zero.

    This is a triumph mosque and it’s location may be what is making foreign money available for its construction.

  3. Tom Frank says:

    I’m certain they would tell you they were simply naming it for a fine 1970’s Chrysler product.

    And there are plenty who would believe that…

  4. Soccerdad says:

    Meryl, more than that. The WaPo in its editorial today cited Cordoba as an example of how Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together peacefully for 800 years!

    FALSE.

    The Rambam and his family were forced to flee Cordoba somewhere in the mid 12th century CE. Given that Islam had only been around for 400 or so years at that point, that marked the end of peaceful coexistence about 400 years short of the Post’s assertion.

    But worse the whole reason the Jews (and Christians) had to leave Cordoba was because the Almohads, from northern Africa conquered the area and gave the dhimmi the option of converting or dying. So Jews and Christian preferred to leave. If this is the coexistence that Rauf aspires to, I don’t think that any of the criticisms of his venture are misplaced.

  5. Michael Lonie says:

    If Muslims can be insensitive and arrogant twits, by building a triumphalist mosque near the site of the WTC, then we should answer them in their own idiom.

    If this “Cordoba House” goes through and is built I propose that we erect, directly acorss the street from its main entrance, a monument to the memory of the people murdered on 9/11 by jihadists and to stand as a warning to Muslims of what will happen to them if they continue this jihad against Western Civilization: A pyramid of skulls. Just in case any visiting Muslims are too obtuse to get the reference (and few of them will be so obtuse) we should rename the place “Hulegu Square.”

  6. chairwoman says:

    What was the Mayor thinking of? No, don’t tell me.

    Surely the face-saving way out of this would have been to say that no ‘religious’ buildings would be built in that area.

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