Melilla is an autonomous Spanish city on the coast of North Africa, adjacent to Morocco. It has been a part of Spain since the Reconquista in the late 15th century.Melilla has just earned the distinction of being the first part of Spain to institute an official Muslim holiday since the Moors were driven out of Iberia in 1492.
AMDG at La Yijad en Eurabia has this report:
Aid el Kebir first official religious Muslim holiday in Spain since Reconquista days- - - - - - - - -
It was announced last Friday by the City’s Government (Partido Popular) in the plenary meeting of the local assembly and in response to a request by Dunia Al Mansouri, from the Muslim opposition (Coalition for Melilla). It will probably be the first time since the expulsion of the Moriscos that a non-Catholic religious official holiday will be celebrated on Spanish territory.
Muslims represent about 50% of the Melillan population, but had no official religious holiday up to now. The request by the Muslim party was backed by the PSOE, which is the third political force of the city. The Partido Popular, currently in Government, granted it.
The celebration of Aid el Kebir follows the lunar calendar, and is therefore a non-fixed holiday in places/countries using solar calendars. Usually, the holiday has to be announced some hours before its start, after watching with the naked eye the phase of the moon. This can be very disturbing in modern societies, because it prevents an efficient planning of working days and shifts. The most “progressive” Islamic sectors claim to be working on predicting the start of Ramadan and other Muslims celebrations by using modern astronomic calculations. That is, the science of the infidels.
Aid Kebir is one of the most important Muslim celebrations. Wikipedia has the following on its meaning:
Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ‘Īd ul-’Aḍḥā, Urdu: بقرعید) or the Festival of Sacrifice is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims and Druze worldwide in commemoration of the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah. The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey Allah and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to kill his son, Allah intervened: instead Allah provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice an animal, as a reminder of Ibrahim’s obedience to Allah. The meat is then shared out with family and friends, as well as the poorer members of the community (Islam names Ishmael as the son who was to be sacrificed, whereas the Judeo-Christian name Isaac).
Please note that Muslims have replaced Isaac with Ishmael, claiming that Jews and Christians corrupted the Scriptures.
The Sacrifice of the Lamb instead of Isaac is one of the most distressing and controversial stories in the Bible. Rivers of ink have flowed in discussing on the precedence of religious and ethic duties. One standard interpretation proposes that it marks the end of human sacrifice — particularly religious sacrifice of children — among Hebrews. It is plausible. The pagans of Antiquity treated children very cruelly. Curiously, in the framework of the exaltation of “martyrs”, Muslims show no moral restraint in sacrificing their own children. If you are interested in this topic you may read this FrontPage interview with Bruce Chilton, author of Abraham’s Curse: The Roots of Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
So, here we are. The Spanish “moderate” right has agreed on celebrating the distorted Muslim account of an episode from the Bible. We will soon see this elegant spectacle on our streets…
Go over to La Yijad en Eurabia for a photo of what Spaniards can soon expect to see.
Where will Aid el Kebir be celebrated next? Al Andalus itself?
Perhaps the next place will be the Mezquita in Córdoba…
7 comments:
You're a clever one, Baron. You've constructed an ingeniously worded post.
What you fail to make clear is that Melilla is not in "Iberia," it is in "Africa." Its 65,000 population is surrounded on three sides by Morocco, a Muslim country
Its population is 45% Muslim, according to Wikipedia. According to the BBC, the Muslim population of Spain as a whole is 2.3%.
The equivalent? Gibraltar, an English outpost in Iberia, decides to add to its celebration of Episcopal religious holidays a Catholic holiday similar to that held in Spain.
And don't try to claim that I said the Spanish have no right to stay in Ceuta or Melilla. They do, and they are more likely to stay if they don't needlessly p-o 45% of the city's population.
Frankly, Baron, the dissembling and evasion you show in this post reminds me of none other than the techniques of one Charles Johnson, Chief Lizard Tyrant of Little Green Footballs.
Geez, PFKAGordon...is it possible for you to post something without referring to Chubby Chuckles Johnson?
PFKAGordon,
It is obvious that the Baron refers to Iberia in the political sense, NOT in the geographical one. If he had had that intention it would have been very silly of himself to include the map at the top. Don’t you think so?
Melilla has been Spanish territory centuries before there was anything called Morocco. Claiming that Melilla is not Spain is like claiming that Istanbul is not Turkey.
I agree that if the process of demographical islamisation goes on, it will cease soon to be Spanish, but the same will happen to Madrid, and to Paris and to Brussels. The comparison with Gibraltar is ludicrous. Gibraltar was taken from Spain after a treaty, even if it has been further enlarged irregularly by the Brits at any occasion they have had (understandably, no need to make moral judgements on these issues). From the Wikipedia: “Gibraltar's main religion is Christianity, with the majority of Gibraltarians belonging to the Roman Catholic Church.” And in the Spanish version you can read it much more clear (why?):
Las religiones más profesadas son catolicismo (78,09%), protestantismo (anglicanismo) (6,98%), cristianismo (otros) (3,21), islam (4,01%), judaísmo (2,12%), hinduismo (1,79%) y otros (0,94%), mientras que el resto de la población (2,86%) no profesa ninguna religión (censo 2001)
Not difficult to figure out that Gibraltar has always been mostly catholic.
On the main issue. I do not see any evasion. Never before had a Muslim holiday been celebrated in Spain, including Melilla. In my opinion, this episode is not essentially different than the celebration of this same holiday in Paris or Brussels. The fact that Melilla is geographically in Africa should not comfort you. And if it does, I would think it twice before accusing others of evasion.
AMDG, I don't think it's even in the political sense. Unless I've missed an edit, the mention if Iberia was simply a historical background. There's certainly no indication of Melilla being "in" Iberia, just that the moors were driven out of Iberia. Melilla is referred to as part of Spain, not Iberia.
Judging from your comments, Gordon, it seems you didn't get past the first paragraph to read the actual article before posting your comment. All your statistics - and the fact that the holiday is being held for the first time in the territory - are mentioned in that nice bit of blockquoted text. It's all above the fold too.
Nodrog, you're so cute when you're obfuscating!
Not only is there a map, my topic sentence, the first in the post, says, "Melilla is an autonomous Spanish city on the coast of North Africa."
If that's dissembling, I'm not very good at it.
Well, Melilla is indeed in Africa, it has a very small population and quiet frankly, does not have half of the significance of Ceuta.
A 50% Moroccan "Spanish" plazza in the Moroccan cost is... Moroccan no? It is governed by Spain but the demography (and geography) does not lie.
The most disturbing thing is that Melilla had recently been a PP stronghold. How, I don't know.
Please, do not get me wrong, Melilla is part of Spain, Spain has all the right to be there BUT, though it is part of Spain, it is not Spain. It is 50% Moroccan for God's sake and it is in Morocco!!! This only shows that democracy is healty in Melilla...
And ADMG, I was surprise to notice how "english" Gibraltar was, at least in the Summer. It is Hispania/Iberia nontheless. However I think the Britts can stay there, can't they?
The Brits prefer natural Gibraltars of Bulgaria - avoiding horrible domestic taxing on estate properties.
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