Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques

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Hagia Sophia, an Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque on the day of the Fall of Constantinople

Conversion of non-Muslim houses of worship into mosques began during the life of Muhammad and continued during subsequent Islamic conquests and under the Muslim rule. As a result, numerous churches, synagogues, Zoroastrian and Hindu temples became mosques.

[edit] Islamic law

The word "masjid" is found throughout the Qur'an, most frequently with the reference to the sanctuary of Kaaba in the city of Mecca. The Qur'an applies the term "masjid" to places of worship of different religions, including Judaism and Christianity; in the same general meaning of a place of worship, the word is used in the hadith, collections of Muslim traditions about the deeds and saying of Muhammad and his companions.^[1]

Islamic law provides for confiscation of non-Muslim houses of worship in places taken by conquest. The unanimous opinion of Islamic scholars^{[citation needed]} was expressed by al-Nawawi:^[2]

Infidels who are subjects of our Sovereign by virtue of surrender, must be forbidden to build churches or synogogues in a town we have founded, or whose inhabitants have embraced Islam of their own accord. As for places taken by attack, the infidels must refrain not only from building new churches and synagogues there, but also from using for their purposes such buildings as exist there. When, however, the country submitted by capitulation, the following cases must be distinguished:

1. If the capitulation treaty states that the land will be ours, but that the infidels will remain there by virtue of hereditary possession, and that they retain their churches or synagogues there, they will then be able to continue to use them; but if nothing has been decided on the subject of these buildings, they are forbidden to use them for their purpose.
2. If the capitulation treaty states that the infidels will remain owners of the land, they can not only continue to use their churches and synagogues, but also build new ones.^[3]

[edit] Ka'aba

The Masjid al-Haram, formerly a pagan sanctuary of Ka'aba, in Makkah as it exists today

The pagan pantheon of Ka'aba, located in Makkah, was the first non-Muslim sanctuary to be converted into a mosque; this was done by Muhammad himself after he conquered Makkah in 630 and the mass conversion of the Makkans to Islam. According to the Islamic beliefs, Muhammad's actions were not a conversion, but a restoration of a mosque established on that site by Abraham, who is considered to be a prophet in Islam. Ka'aba thus became known as the Masjid al-Haram, or Sacred Mosque, the holiest site in Islam.^[1] The Ka'aba is a special muslim monument that when muslims go on their Haaj they try to kiss and touch the Ka'aba, because that is what special prophets such as Muhammed did many years ago. It is made of black stone. Black stone is said to be a special stone that was brought by angels form heaven, only some of the Ka'ba is made from the original stone.

[edit] Churches

Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, one of the first churches converted into mosques

Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Cyprus was formerly St. Nicholas Cathedral - it is one of the very few surviving churches in gothic designs that had been consecrated into a mosque.

According to the early Muslim historians, the towns that surrendered without resistance and made treaties with the Muslims received permission to retain their churches and synagogues, while in the towns taken by conquest Jewish and Christian places of worship were seized by the Muslims. Modern historians do not consider the process of transformation of churches into mosques to be as regular as the Muslim historians describe it, but in the course of time, the Muslims appropriated many churches to themselves.^[1] From the beginning of the Muslim conquests, the Christians had ceded to the Muslims half of their churches, which were turned into mosques.^[4] One of the earliest examples of this kind was in Damascus, where in 705 Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik took the church of St. John from the Christians and had it rebuilt as a mosque, which is now known as Umayyad Mosque; overall, Abd al-Malik is said to have transformed ten churches in Damascus into mosques. The process of turning churches into mosques was especially intensive in the villages, with the gradual conversion of the people to Islam. During his persecution of the Copts, Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun turned many churches into mosques, both in Cairo and in Egyptian villages, which had no mosques in the earlier generations of Islam. Fatimid caliph al-Hakim converted numerous churches and synagogues into mosques. During the Reconquista christian warriors would just as often appropriate and convert mosques to churches as the Muslims would convert them to their capture.^[5] The chief mosque in Palermo was previously a church. After the Crusades, several churches were turned into mosques in Palestine.^[1] Ottoman Turks converted into mosques nearly all churches, monasteries, and chapels in Constantinople, including the famous St. Sophia cathedral, immediately after capturing the city in 1453. To make the buildings fit for the mosques, the Turks destroyed the icons, plundering their precious plating in the process, and defaced the frescoes.^[6] The Ottoman sultan Mehmet II was the first to perform a Muslim prayer in what had previously been the St. Sophia cathedral.^[7]

[edit] Biblical holy sites

Al-Aqsa Mosque (pictured) was built on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism

Jews were banned from entering the Cave of the Patriarchs (pictured), the second most holy site in Judaism, after it was converted to a mosque in 1266

In many instances mosques were established on the places of Jewish or Christian sanctuaries associated with Biblical personalities who were also recognized by Islam; the practice was particularly common in Palestine. Caliph Umar laid the foundation of Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, the most sacred site in Judaism; Dome of the Rock, another Muslim mosque, was also built on the Temple Mount which was an abandoned and disused area for more than 600 years. Upon the capture of Jerusalem, it is commonly reported that Umar refused to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre^[8] for fear that later Muslims would then convert it into a mosque in spite of a treaty guaranteeing its safety.^[9]The mosque of Job in Ash Shaykh Sa'd, Syria, which previously was a church of Job.^[1] Cave of the Patriarchs, the second most holy site in Judaism, was converted into a church during the Crusades before being turned into a mosque in 1266 and henceforth banned to Jews and Christians. In October 2000, during the Al-Aqsa intifada, the tomb of the Hebrew patriarch Joseph, and the yeshiva inside Od Yosef Chai, located in Nablus, was destroyed by a Palestinian mob and immediately rebuilt as a mosque with a dome painted green.^[10]

[edit] Hindu temples

The destruction of Hindu temples in India during the Islamic conquest had occurred from the beginning of Muslim conquest until the end the Mughal Empire throughout the Indian subcontinent. ^[11] .^[12] Numerous Indian mosques bear inscriptions that they were constructed on the sites of destroyed Hindu temples; in many cases materials from the demolished temples were used for construction of mosques. ^[13] The total number of mosques on the Indian subcontinent that were built on the sites of former Hindu temples is difficult to estimate; however, the number of demolished temples is in the tens of thousands, and in most cases the destruction was accompanied by construction of mosques on the freed places.^[11]

[edit] Zoroastrian temples

After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Zoroastrian fire temples, with their four axial arch openings, were usually turned into mosques simply by setting a mihrab (prayer niche) on the place of the arch nearest to qibla (the direction of Mecca). This practice is described by numerous Muslim sources; however, the archeological evidence confirming it is still scarce. Zoroastrian temples converted into mosques in such a manner could be found in Bukhara, as well as in and near Istakhr and other Iranian cities.^[1]

[edit] References