US dilemma over Iraq's mosques

[CShine]

US forces battling the insurgency in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Falluja face similar dilemmas over the issue of mosques in combat zones. BBC religious affairs correspondent Jane Little looks at what Islam actually has to say about attacking mosques or using them in battle. In one fierce battle in the Iraqi city of Falluja on Monday, American marines used a tank to destroy the minaret of a mosque they said insurgents were using as a base. It was a provocative move, but Islam does not consider mosques to be scared spaces in the same way as Christianity views its churches.

"Islam does not have the right of consecration or deconsecration," says professor of Islamic studies at Cambridge University, Abdul Hakim Murad. "A mosque is not quite like a church; in fact the Prophet said that the whole earth has been made a mosque for his people."

Mosques are, nevertheless, places of refuge and powerful symbols. Professor Murad says it is that - rather than what classical Islam says - that matters to many Muslims.

"The US is perceived as being in the grip of an evangelical Christian administration that wishes to flood Iraq not just with soldiers and oil technicians but also with Christian missionaries," he says. "So the sight of a minaret tumbling to the ground really confirms in many people's eyes that the Americans are targeting Islam."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3669195.stm

[buddy22600]

1. if bush gets ahold of this piece

then he will order all mosques in the middle east destroyed

[Wright Patman]

2. Christians

do not view churches as sacred places either, as far as that goes. Christ is said to reside in the heart of believers.

That said, it is not a good way to win friends or influence people to bomb buildings where particular faith groups gather to worship their idea of deity, especially when there are civilians inside them.

[DrWeird]

3. The minaret was used as a base?

The other day it was snipers. Not that I didn't expect the story to change.

[Tinoire]

4. Who is this guy? Abdul Hakim Murad? Chalabi's brother?

He best effing check with the Muslims first.

Note: Laying the groundwork right here & now to bomb the hell out of those mosques.

[saigon68]

5. Personally if I were part of a Caravan of Christian Evangelists

I wouldn't take my caravan to Iraq right now !

[Eye and Monkey]

7. Ticket to ride, or Ticket to Paradise, guaranteed.

If you don't get that ticket to Paradise, you can provide the evangel-circuit with years of tales of christ's word to the godless (for a small but adequate fee).

[PurityOfEssence]

6. Yep, this religion stuff just messes up everthang.

Didja see the pictures of the Marines getting baptized? I'm sure the Arab Networks carried it...