As we set our foot in
to the Mosque-Cathedral, on the right-hand side of the entrance was an old
washbowl, or what is popularly called sink. It was engrained in the wall.
Probably it was used for ablution when it was still a mosque. As we stood inside
the magnificent structure of Mezquita, Christina looked us, and started
narrating the history of the mosque.
Christina has a mastery
of the story of Mezquita; she explains it with the erudition of a scholar, the
enthusiasm of a historian and the emotional vibrancy of a nationalist. She was
courteous in her explanation, but firm in her attachment to the mosque turned
cathedral. Christiana told us about the role of Caliph Abderrahman III in
building the Ummayad mosque, the expansion the mosque has undergone at various
times, and how Islam as a civilisation contributed to the development of arts
and architecture in Andalusia.
As she was explaining,
there was a deep silence among the tourists listening to her. It was emotional,
but the feeling of entitlement to this important structure among both Muslims
and Christians cannot be missed.
As the tourists go
round the Mezquita, both Muslims and Christians, the feeling of entitlement by
members of both faiths was apparent. “It is difficult, wasn’t it?” said
Christina at a point, as she explains the struggle that took place between the
Muslim leaders of Andalusia and the Christian leaders who reconquered Cordoba
and turned the Mezquita into a Cathedral.
One of the amazing
things about Mezquita is the interior design. The mosque was built more than
1000 years ago, yet the architectural design of the mosque resembles the
interior design of Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque in Madina (peace be upon him). It
is almost a copycat. It simply tells you the level of advancement Muslims have
achieved early in architecture.
One of the areas of
attraction in the mosque is the mihrab. The mihrab is a niche
area in the mosque showing the Qibla (direction to the Kaaba in Makkah, where
all Muslims face during prayer). The Mihrab in the Mosque-Cathedral suggests
so many things about Islamic civilisation in Muslim Spain. It shows how
advanced the Muslim world has been in the area of arts. It shows the level of
thinking and advancement in knowledge at the time. The calligraphy that
decorated the interior part of the Mihrab, with verses of the Qur’an adorning
the entire wall tells you about a society that has knowledge, arts and culture
embedded in its DNA.
In relation to the
advancement on knowledge and culture, which the Cordoba mosque symbolizes,
please permit me to quote at length the contribution of the historian, Tim
Wallace-Murphy in his classic work, What Islam Did For US: Understanding
Islam’s Contribution to Western Civilisation.
“Cordova eventually became the dominant centre
of Islamic culture during the ninth century. The phases of construction of its
extraordinary mosque, which became the second largest mosque in all of Islam,
reflect the cultural changes that took place between 785 and 980.” He said.
Wallace-Murphy went to
state that, “in Cordova, Caliph al-Hakkam created a library of 400,000 books
which were indexed in 44 catalogues, and he added his own commentaries to many
of these volumes. Thus, Cordova became one of the greatest libraries in Europe,
second only to the greatest in the world located in Baghdad at the heart of the
Islamic empire. This almost insatiable passion for learning, stimulated the
production of between 70,000 and 80, 000
bound volumes each year, which not only reflected local demand but also
demonstrated the country’s capacity for a phenomenal high-volume, top quality
production, many centuries before the invention of printing. Sciences, such as
geography, agriculture and irrigation, astronomy, medicine and mathematics were
actively encouraged, as was the serious study of philosophy based principally
on classical Greek thought.”
Tim Wallace-Murphy
added that “much of the classical knowledge of ancient Greece that we now
treasure and take for granted would have withered away had it not been
preserved and enhanced by Islamic scholars.” He concluded that “the well-attended
and richly endowed colleges of Andalusia were later to provide a model and
template for those founded in Oxford and Cambridge in England.” (pp.108-109).
Inside the Mihrab,
as Christina told us during the tour, is the seclusion room, preserved for the Caliph.
The Caliph, who leads the prayer, uses the room to engage in total devotion to
Allah. As we walked from the Mihrab area, we moved to the next part of
the mosque. It was another exclusive area covered in glass. Inside were white
triangular stones with Arabic inscriptions on them. What is this, we asked.
“This section is about the people who built the mosque,” said Christina. Each
builder during the time will write his name so that the amount work he has done
can be identified, and receive payment accordingly. Interestingly the names
have been preserved, and so the heroes of who built this structure, which is
now a UNESCO heritage site, can still be remembered.
The Mosque-Cathedral
has undergone a lot of expansion and changes due the shifting of ownership
between Muslims and Chritians. Although the mosque operates as a Cathedral, the
main church was built at the centre of the old mosque. The surrounding walls were
used to bury various Christian clergies.
But what is interesting
also is the Islamic design that was used in the calligraphy of the sections of
the Cathedral. Christina told us that even after the Christian reconquest,
Islamic arts and calligraphy was the fashion in those centuries. So even the
Chritian leaders used Muslim designers for interior decorations.
If I were asked to
describe the atmosphere to someone unaware of the historical altercations that
took place at the Mosque-Cathedral, I would simply say Mezquita is the place where
you see two contending forces of psychological and physical ownership living
together.
Yet, in contemporary times,
the two contending forces result in the appreciation of history rather than a symbol
of confrontation. If history has a
conscience, it would definitely face one of its stiffest test in the Mosque-Cathedral.
Here, I am not referring to conscience
at face value, or from a more literal interpretation. I am referring to
conscience as a subjective philosophical term that denotes ‘moral knowledge’. A
knowledge that is tied to the values, belief system and ethical orientation of
the individual.
As we concluded the
tour, we realized that we did not pay attention to an important item in our
itinerary. We had fed our brains with enough historical diet. It is time to pay
attention to our stomach. In the two occasions that I visited the Mosque-Cathedral,
we walked down the alleys to nearby restaurants. We ordered Paella rice. It is the Spanish
equivalent of dafaduka in Hausa language, or what is popularly known as
Jollof rice in West Africa. The difference though is that Paella rice is a
mish-mash of everything. If you love seafood, please don’t miss it. It is
cooked with seafood especially shrimps, lemon and some vegetables. Some
restaurants also use chicken. It tastes better when it is freshly made, and
eaten after an exhaustive tour like the one we just had.
Concluded
3:38
09.01.1438
10.10.2016
