Muslim inventions that shaped the modern world

Source: CNN

 

London, England (CNN) — Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.

But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins.

Along with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in today.

The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects — the basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales — are the focus of “1001 Inventions,” a book celebrating “the forgotten” history of 1,000 years of Muslim heritage.

“There’s a hole in our knowledge, we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks,” professor Salim al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN.

“1001 Inventions” is now an exhibition at London’s Science Museum. Hassani hopes the exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures — like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy and stretched as far as parts of China — to present day civilization.

Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt

Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions:

1. Surgery

Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds — beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps.

2. Coffee

Now the Western world’s drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.

3. Flying machine

“Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly,” said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci’s hundreds of years later, said Hassani.

4. University

In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women around the world today.

5. Algebra

The word algebra comes from the title of a Persian mathematician’s famous 9th century treatise “Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala” which translates roughly as “The Book of Reasoning and Balancing.” Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power.

6. Optics

“Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world,” says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy’s theories that light was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain.

7. Music

Muslim musicians have had a profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.

8. Toothbrush

According to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste.

9. The crank

Many of the basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.

10. Hospitals

“Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt,” explained Hassani. The first such medical center was the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it — a policy based on the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such hospitals spread around the Muslim world.

For more information on muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com. For more information about the exhibition at London’s Science Museum go to: science museum.org.uk

The hidden belief that can destroy your success

I noticed a trend amongst converts.  Before converting, many of them are climbing the corporate ladder.  After converting, it’s almost as if they think that if they continue to do that, they are not “as pious”.  In other words, get rid of wordly success so you can get afterlife success.

 

X     Be pious = afterlife success only

 

I don’t blame them.  Much of the reason why they adopt this concept is because many Muslims have this hidden limited belief and it carries over to the converts.

I was conducting a seminar this weekend where (on a side note) we discussed the same thing.  The sheikh in the room described that in Islam, the formula is actually this:

 

√    Be pious = afterlife + wordly success

 

The best believer is the one who is strong in their belief and puts it into action.  The best believer is not the one who sits at home and prays all day (although they would be rewarded for this) but the better one is the one who goes out and benefits society.

And that is what I have done.  Take a look how.

Event: Panel Discussion on Hijab on Feb. 3

Event:

Panel Discussion on HIJAB- the Islamic Headscarf

“The Hijab:

Symbol of Oppression or Expression of Faith?

A Right or a Threat?”

Start Time: Wednesday, February 3 at 6:00pm

End Time: Wednesday, February 3 at 8:00pm

Where: Ianos Bookshop Cafe

 

Η ομάδα 53 Αθήνας της Διεθνούς Αμνηστίας διοργανώνει εκδήλωση συζήτηση στον ΙΑΝΟ (Σταδίου 24) την Τετάρτη 3 Φλεβάρη στις 6μμ, με θέμα:

“Μαντήλα:

καταπίεση ή πίστη, δικαίωμα ή απειλή;”

Εκτός από την εκπρόσωπο της Διεθνούς Αμνηστίας, μικρές εισηγήσεις θα κάνουν:

• η αγγλοϊρανή σκηνοθέτιδα Shirin Youssefian Maanian
• η δημοσιογράφος Κατερίνα Οικονομάκου και
• η Άννα Στάμου, υπεύθυνη δημοσίων σχέσεων της Μουσουλμανικής Ένωσης Ελλάδας.

Στη διάρκεια της εκδήλωσης, θα παιχτεί ένα μικρό απόσπασμα από το έργο “Hijab Frappe΄!”, που πρωτοπαρουσιάστηκε πέρισυ την άνοιξη σε περιορισμένες παραστάσεις και έχει σκηνοθετήσει η Shirin, και θα επακολουθήσει συζήτηση.

Attention atheists – can you explain this?

After watching this video, I wonder how anyone can be an atheist.

Εγκλωβισμένοι στην απόγνωση

Source:  Enet.gr

Read in English: click on the “English” link at the top right of this webpage.

Είναι αβάστακτη η αίσθηση της πολιορκίας. Του περιορισμού της κίνησης στη φυλακή, όπου κάθε δρόμος οδηγεί πάνω σε τοίχο. Τοίχο χτισμένο, απτό τοίχο της βίας. Και έρχεται και γίνεται από πάνω συντριπτική η αίσθηση ότι εδώ και τώρα βαδίζει στην κορύφωσή του το νέο κεφάλαιο στο δράμα του Παλαιστινιακού, που χρονίζει ματώνοντας μέσα από τις συμπληγάδες του κυνισμού των τοπικών, περιφερειακών και διεθνών πολιτικοστρατηγικών σκοπιμοτήτων. Ετσι λένε τα «μηνύματα στον αέρα» και από τις δύο πλευρές των συνόρων του μεθοριακού περάσματος της Ράφα από και προς την Αίγυπτο.

Τα νιώσαμε για τα καλά στο πετσί μας τα μηνύματα αυτά μαζί με τον Γιάννη Μπογιόπουλο του «Εψιλον», ενώ προσπαθούσαμε άκαρπα επί 14 ολόκληρες ώρες προχθές να φύγουμε από τη Γάζα, περνώντας από τη Ράφα στην Αίγυπτο. Ενώ ούτε μέχρι το κεντρικό κτίριο για τον έλεγχο διαβατηρίων δεν μας επέτρεπαν να προσεγγίσουμε, ένστολοι και μη αξιωματούχοι φύλαξης συνόρων της Χαμάς, επικαλούμενοι «προβλήματα με τις αιγυπτιακές αρχές», βιώναμε κι εμείς την τραγωδία κάθε ανθρώπινης ιστορίας των εφοδιασμένων με ειδική άδεια διέλευσης Παλαιστίνιων της Γάζας που περίμεναν αγωνιώντας μαζί μας. Ακούσαμε κι εμείς τον γδούπο της έκρηξης ενός ακόμα ισραηλινού αεροπορικού βομβαρδισμού -στο Χαν Γιούνες, ούτε δέκα χιλιόμετρα παραπέρα. Και έφταναν από τηλεφώνου τα νέα από την αιγυπτιακή πλευρά για τις εκτεταμένες συγκρούσεις των συνοδευόντων το κομβόι ανθρωπιστικής βοήθειας στη Γάζα του Viva Palaistina με την αστυνομία στο Ελ Αρίς, κάπου 40 χιλιόμετρα δυτικά.

Εξι λεωφορεία και έξι ασθενοφόρα με στοιβαγμένους δυο δυο και τρεις τρεις αρρώστους, άνδρες, γυναίκες και μικρά παιδιά, που μόνο νοσηλεία έξω μπορεί να παρατείνει την ταλαίπωρη ζωή τους, περίμεναν σταθμευμένα από νωρίς το πρωί σε μια άθλια τσιμεντοστρωμένη μάντρα -τον χώρο αναμονής μισό χιλιόμετρο έξω από το κτιριακό συγκρότημα του μεθοριακού ελέγχου. Τα σύνορα άνοιξαν το μεσημέρι. Αργά, πολύ αργά, πρώτα τα ασθενοφόρα, μετά τα λεωφορεία έφευγαν κινούμενα προς την εξωτερική πύλη και οι επιβάτες με χαρά και λάμψη ελπίδας στα μάτια χαιρετούσαν εμάς που μέναμε πίσω κουνώντας τα χέρια. Κάποιοι που ένιωσαν ξαφνική, βαθιά φιλία μαζί μας, επειδή απλώς είμαστε εκεί και ακούσαμε τα βάσανά τους, μέχρι που δάκρυζαν. «Καλή τύχη, ινσάλα!…»

Νύχτωνε και η έκρηξη ακούστηκε κοντά. Αργότερα μαθαίνουμε ότι ήταν κατευθυνόμενο βλήμα από ισραηλινό F-16. Μη επανδρωμένο αεροσκάφος, μια «ζενάνα» όπως τα λένε εδώ, είχε εντοπίσει μια πενταμελή ομάδα της «Αλ Νάσερ αλ Σαλάχ εντ Ντιν» -πρόκειται για μια από τις μικρότερες ένοπλες οργανώσεις των Επιτροπών Λαϊκής Αντίστασης- που συνεργάζονται «ατύπως» με τη στρατιωτική πτέρυγα της Χαμάς. Οι πέντε φέρονται να έστηναν εκτοξευτή ρουκέτας κοντά στα σύνορα με το Ισραήλ έξω από το Χαν Γιούνες. Ο ισραηλινός πύραυλος σκότωσε έναν και τραυμάτισε σοβαρά τους υπόλοιπους. «Ο μάρτυρας λεγόταν Τζιχάντ αλ Σούμρι», μάθαμε. Το πορτρέτο του ήδη τυπώνεται να γίνει αφίσα δίπλα σε εκατοντάδες άλλες παντού γύρω στη Γάζα.

Ζενάνες πετάνε συνεχώς τη νύχτα πάνω από τη Γάζα ξανά τις τελευταίες μέρες και όλο και κάποιο -καθοδηγούμενο από την εικόνα πραγματικού χρόνου που του παρέχουν- F-16 θα πυροδοτήσει βλήματα. Τη νύχτα της Δευτέρας, μία ομάδα των «Ταξιαρχιών Αμπού Αλι Μούσταφα», της στρατιωτικής πτέρυγας του Λαϊκού Μετώπου για την Απελευθέρωση της Παλαιστίνης, γλίτωσαν παρά τρίχα τον θάνατο. Το βλήμα αέρος-εδάφους αστόχησε. Είχαν λίγο πριν ανατινάξει έναν ηλεκτρονικό αισθητήρα με μη επανδρωμένο πυροβόλο του στρατού του Ισραήλ, έξω ακριβώς από το Μπέιτ Λαχία, στα βόρεια της Λωρίδας της Γάζας.

Ισραηλινό «ξέσπασμα»

Μέσα σε όλη αυτή τη συνεχή ένταση, όπου οι φήμες για επικείμενη νέα μαζικής κλίμακας επίθεση του στρατού του Ισραήλ στη Γάζα δίνουν και παίρνουν στους δρόμους (και ο τελευταίος μικροπωλητής έχει να αναπτύξει σχετικό σενάριο) προέκυψε και ανακοίνωση του εκπροσώπου των «Ταξιαρχιών Ιζεντίν αλ Κασάμ», της στρατιωτικής πτέρυγας της Χαμάς: Ο Αμπού Ομπέιντα (πολεμικό ψευδώνυμο) αρνήθηκε κάθε εκδοχή για «σιωπηρή ανακωχή» της ισλαμικής οργάνωσης με το Ισραήλ στη Γάζα, λέγοντας ότι «δεν υπάρχει άμεση ή έμμεση συμφωνία με τον σιωνιστή εχθρό». Ομως επιβεβαίωσε ότι η Χαμάς σταμάτησε να εκτοξεύει ρουκέτες εναντίον του Ισραήλ «για ένα προσωρινό διάστημα σε συνεννόηση με τις άλλες οργανώσεις».

Επίσης, από προχθές το πρωί επέστρεψε στη Γάζα ο Γκέρχαρντ Κόνραντ, ένας από τους Γερμανούς διαμεσολαβητές στις διαπραγματεύσεις της Χαμάς με το Ισραήλ για την επίτευξη συμφωνίας ανταλλαγής του αιχμάλωτου Ισραηλινού στρατιώτη Γκιλάντ Σαλίτ με έως και 1.000 Παλαιστίνιους κρατούμενους. Προτίθεται να μεταφέρει στην άλλη πλευρά, ταξιδεύοντας πάλι μέσω Καΐρου, τις τελευταίες προτάσεις της ισλαμικής οργάνωσης.

Στο μεταξύ, στο Ελ Αρίς γινόταν χαμός. Δεκάδες οι τραυματίες από το Viva Palestina στις προχθεσινές συγκρούσεις με τα αιγυπτιακά ΜΑΤ και 15 οι τραυματίες των ανδρών ασφαλείας. Εδώ και τρεις μέρες το πλοίο από τη Λατάκεια της Συρίας αποβίβασε στο -μάλλον φτωχών υποδομών- λιμάνι της μικρής αυτής παραμεθόριας αιγυπτιακής πόλης τα 198 φορτηγά της διεθνούς αυτοκινητοπομπής ανθρωπιστικής βοήθειας, επικεφαλής της οποίας παραμένει ο Βρετανός βουλευτής Τζορτζ Γκάλογουεϊ. Αποκλεισμένα όλα αυτά τα οχήματα και οι συνοδεύοντες (κυρίως Βρετανοί, Αμερικανοί και Τούρκοι) στους καγκελοφραγμένους ντόκους του λιμανιού και άρχισαν οι… διαπραγματεύσεις με τις αιγυπτιακές αρχές. Οι Αιγύπτιοι επέμεναν να κόψουν στα δύο το κονβόι. Να επιτρέψουν μόνο στα 140 φορτηγά να περάσουν από τη Ράφα, ενώ τα άλλα 59 να μπουν στο Ισραήλ και -μάλλον από το μεθοριακό πέρασμα του Κερέμ Σαλόμ από όπου μόνο φορτηγά επιτρέπεται να περνούν- να μπουν στη Γάζα.

Οι ξένοι το αρνήθηκαν και ο Γκάλογουεϊ διαμαρτυρήθηκε έντονα με δηλώσεις του στην αιγυπτιακή τηλεόραση: «Είναι -είπε- εντελώς ακατανόητη (η απαίτηση των αιγυπτιακών αρχών) το 25% του κομβόι να πάει στο Ισραήλ και να μη φθάσει ποτέ στη Γάζα. Διότι τίποτα που μπαίνει στο Ισραήλ δεν φτάνει ποτέ στη Γάζα».

Και τότε άρχισαν όλα. Οι συνοδοί του Viva Palestina, περίπου 520 άτομα, όρμησαν στην πύλη του περίβολου του λιμανιού και την άνοιξαν με τη βία. Κάπου 2.000 παρόντες αστυνομικοί και ΜΑΤ τους αντιμετώπισαν με ξύλο, δακρυγόνα και εκτοξευτές νερού. Και όταν τους τελείωσαν τα… πολεμοφόδια πήραν ακόμα και με τις πέτρες τους ξένους… παρείσακτους. Επτά από τους οποίους έχουν συλληφθεί. *

Rethink’s art picks

Source:  Zain’s Pics & Text

“This picture was taken at the First Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta which was held from 19 to 22 March 2009 in Putrajaya.”

 

Greece: Religious minorities – second class worshippers…

Source: Enet

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

“If the religious leaders stand to the level of the circumstances, then not only will they prevent the use of religion for other purposes unknown to their mission, but they will promote specific proposals of a flourishing inter-religion cooperation. Such a perspective that can develop through the inter-religion dialogue, is most certain that will be supported not only by the international organizations but from the political and spiritual leaders of all peoples,” was writing at “E” the Prime Minister George Papandreou when he was minister of foreign affairs on January 29, 2002.

Today in Greece the problems of the religious minorities remain unsolved. At the meetings that have the representatives of religions and dogma, most of the time they are focused on the problems that they face with their relations with the Greek state than between them.

Thousands of immigrants

Despite of the fact that the population of “others” has increased dramatically in the last two decades of thousands of immigrants mainly from the Muslim countries, nothing has been done to solve the problems of the religious minorities.

Despite the promises and commitments of the governments of Pasok and Nea Dimokratia, none of the claims has been solved. “E” is recording the problems that Muslims, Catholics and Jews face, who most of them are Greeks and are treated as second class worshipers.

 

CATHOLICS

They manage without any financial support

Dramatic changes to the Church of Greece brought the massive entering of immigrants in our country

Until recently the Catholics were a small religious minority that counted about 50.000 Greeks and a small number of western Europeans that were in our country due to family or professional reasons. Today only in Athens is estimated that the Catholics are 150 to 200 thousand, while more small Catholic communities of immigrants have appeared at several places in Greece. According to the rules of the Catholic church, those fresh-arrived worshipers, no matter what nationality or origin they have, they do not form their own bishopric, but they belong to the local Catholic bishoprics and parishes. Thus a new status is created for the local Catholic church, a multi-national and multi-cultural congregation at the bishoprics and parishes, where the Greek Catholics are a minority any more (in Athens the proportion is one Greek to nine foreign Catholics).

A number of problems concern the national Catholic church related mostly to the newly-arrived worshippers. And as Greek language is not their primary language, more priests are called from Poland, Iraq, Philippines, Albania, Africa who they find it very difficult to settle and work legally in Greece.

Father Theodoros Kondides, the Abbot of Jesuit monastery in Athens talks to “E” concerning a big challenge, and he clarifies that “the Greek Catholic church attempts to create a Christian community with heterogeneous worshippers regarding their origin, but they are united by the same faith and they belong to the same ecclesiastical body”.

Father Kondides refers also to the financial problems that his church faces in Greece. The church’s income he states, “comes from membership fees and from the exploitation of the real property. They cannot depend on aid from the Hellenic state nor from abroad as Greece is considered a “rich” country – member of the EU and for any support the priority goes to the needs of the poor countries”.

Permanent malfunctions

Permanent malfunctions faces the Catholic Church and due to a not complete and vague legal acknowledgement and a public management, which often is negatively determined towards the “foreign doctrines” and offers very limited financial means. The result is between others that a significant number of ecclesiastic monuments or buildings which is a part of the cultural heritage of Greece as well (in Tinos, Athens, Corfu etc.) not to be able to have maintenance, and they gradually are destroyed. Regarding to this issue two questions to the minister of culture and tourism Pavlos Geroulanos applied recently the parliamentarians N.Alevras (PASOK) and F.Kouvelis (SYRIZA). At both questions it is mentioned the fact that the Catholic church is making constant claims to the related ministers for a long time, asking to intervene to restore the Cathedral Church of St. Dionysius at Panepistimiou Street, that had serious damages at the earthquake of 1999. By not receiving any answer the Catholic Archbishopric expresses their fears that the funding is not approved because they concern a Catholic church and not an Orthodox one.

 

JEWS

Target of attacks and vandalisms are Jewish places

A veil of silence covers the history of the Jewish community of Greece and only recently the state intervened in order to honor the memory of the oldest organized religious community in our country.

On 2004, with the intervention of the foreign minister of that time George Papandreou the 27th of January was set as a day of memory for the victims of the Holocaust by law 32/18/2004. The first historical report for the settlement of the Jews in Greece lies around 350-250 B.C. Since then the Jewish population increased dramatically in Greece. During the Judaic wars (66-70 AC) 6000 Jews were participating according to testimonies to the construction of Corinth Isthmus.

In the 12th century, it is said that Jews settled in Corfu, Arta, Patrai, Nafpaktos, Corinth, Thebes, Khalkis, Thessaloniki, Drama and elsewhere. Jews also lived at islands Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes and Cyprus. Those Jews that were called “Romaniotes” integrated in the Hellenic culture, and it is characteristic that they were writing Greek texts using the Jewish alphabet.

A mass immigration stream happened in the 14th century when Jew refugees from Spain and Portugal settled in Greece. The settlement was mainly in Thessaloniki and at cities of Thessaly where the Sephardim Jews brought their language –Spanish-Jewish – and their own customs.

Between 16th and 18th century the Israelite community of Thessaloniki was one of the largest in the world. Significant were also the Israelite communities at Rhodes and Crete.

When the new Greek state was founded on 1830, the Jews enjoyed equal political rights with the rest of the Greeks, on 1882 the Jewish communities were acknowledged as legal bodies.

In the beginning of 20th century, about 10000 Jews lived in Greece. After the Balkan wars (1912-13) and the liberation of the North Greece, Epirus and Aegean islands, Crete (1908) and Chios, the number of Jews reached 100.000.

After the 2nd World War when the Italians (1940) and the Germans (1941) attacked against Greece, 12 898 Jews joined the Hellenic army forces.

During the German occupation (1943-1944), by applying the “Final Solution”, the Nazis launched a systematic persecution of the Jews through Greece by tracking, arresting and exiling them at the internment camps in Poland. Eighty six percent of the Jewish population (more than 67.000 people) was perished during the Holocaust. After the end of the war the Jews that survived and returned back to Greece were only 10.000. This population decreased even more due to the migration of many Jews to Israel and USA.

Today in Greece live about 5000 Jews, organized in nine communities.

Despite of the fact that the Jewish community is fully integrated in the Greek reality, anti-Semitic incidents occur often. Target of attacks and vandalisms are often Jewish places (synagogues – monuments – cemeteries). These concern very much the Jewish authorities that ask from times to times from the state to take measures – but with no response – as the enforcement of the anti-racist laws and the protection and guarding the Jewish places. The abolition of anti-Jew customs as the burning of Judas and anti-Jew references to the Eastern Anthems also concern the community. “The matter of anti-Semitism keeps concerning us. In Greece seems to exist the tendency if racist discriminations other circles there is a anti-Semitic spirit,” states the president of the Central Jewish Council of Greece Mr. Moses Konstantinis to “E” and adds, “There are example cases where cleric, political factors find an opportunity to manifest similar feelings. The trial of the abusive and calumnious of the Jews, and supporter of Nazism K.Plevris was an example. The trial that lasted about two years with all phases with different judges revealed to the public opinion district attorneys that the Jews were deliberately attacked and the final verdict (votes 4-1) to not-guilty of the accused made the district attorney of the supreme court to recantation in favor of the law considering that “the five member interpreted and applied incorrectly the relevant law (927/1979) in order not to validate legally anti-Semitism” Mr Konstantinis also refers to the permanent claim without response of the Thessaloniki community where they ask compensation for the destruction of the Jewish cemetery during the German occupation (today in this place is located at the university) and to the salaries of the rabbis that ask to come from the state budget as already happens with the salaries of priests of other religions.

 

MUSLIMS

The mosque and the cemetery, promises that are not fulfilled

The mosque and the Muslim cemetery remain two of the promises that gave the governments of PASOK and ND the last decade but they have not fulfilled them.

The construction of the mosque is anticipated through two laws.

The first was of the foreign ministry and on the occasion of the Olympic games of 2004 that took place in Athens and was referring to the construction of a worship place for the Muslims at Peania. But the law is not always a law, as often happens in Greece, and the plan was abandoned after the reactions of the residents of the area and the Church authority. It is characteristic that the bishop of the area on August 2004 had confused the matter of the mosque with the rubbish dump. He referred that time with a written statement “if the government wants to show to the international community that we are modernized as a folk and civilized, let them move away the rubbish dumps from Mesogeia, Koropi and Peania that infect our lungs everyday and humiliate our country internationally and then they can build the Islamic center that insults our spirit and history.”

The second law was voted in 2006. It was announced by the Minister of Education and Religions, Marietta Giannakou, and was referring to the construction of a mosque at Eleonas. For a number of reasons the mosque issue had no luck so far.

Regarding the Muslim Cemetery the development was similar

30.000m² at Shisto

The Church had given a field of 30.000m² at Shisto area in 2005. However after about four years the Muslim Association of Greece that was motivated this, was informed through the answer that was given on May 2009 the Deputy Minister Ath. Nakos that “ the area that was offered by the Church of Greece for the construction of the Muslim cemetery was judged by the authorized services as unsuitable for zoning a cemetery.”

After that, with a decision of the Holy Synod, another field was given again in Shisto area. But until now there is no development at all.

The Muslim Association of Greece addressed once more to three ministers of the new government of PASOK to remind them of the chronic problems.

The first letter dated October 26, 2009 that sent addressed to the education minister Anna Diamandopoulou and after they describe what has happened – and not happened – the last years they underline: “According to the latest formal briefing we had from Mr. Angelos Syrigos, special secretary when minister was Euripides Stylianides, the Ministry of Finance had laid out 15 million euro for the construction of the mosque from the state expenditure fund as is mentioned at “Giannakou law” of 2006 and the only barrier was the relocation of the supermarket of the Navy Base from the area and this was under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. We offered to gather this amount for the relocation that is 5 million euro in order to start the project but our proposal was not accepted. As we realized and as the ministers changed, nobody knew what really should be done and no one was in charge any more.”

The second letter dated October 29, 2009 addressed to the vice president of the government Theodore Pangalos and between others they illustrate a numbers of issues that are really serious: “Many times the ‘imams’ of the mosques project all the time the word ‘sin’ in order to cover their ignorance, cutting the bridges that would lead to the integration with the society. So they find in Greece a fertile soil to act without any control and this is something they could not do at their countries of origin. Also there are several that manage the unofficial mosques that they do not wish the construction of a formal mosque because they will lose their privileges, the influence groups and the fees of the worshipers from the alms money.”

The third letter dated November 11, 2009 addressed to the Minister of National Defense Vangelis Venizelos. In the letter the attitude of the former Minster Vangelis Meimarakis is being denounced, “He showed in fact a great unwillingness to solve this matter”, they refer and later they report, “To our personal live discussion he did not give us a clear aspect nor he directed us to someone in charge from his ministry in order to solve this matter.” The only one who has responded so far is the minister of Defense Vangelis Venizelos who by his associates, according to sources, asked to be filled in not only for the mosque issue but for everything that concern the Muslims that live in Greece.

 

Thomas Tsatsis – Elisabetta Casalotti

tsath@enet.gr – casalotti@enet.gr