My Enlightening Islamic Week

Good morning! I would wish you all a happy October, but I guess we're way past the beginning of October and I can't quite wrap my mind around that yet. I go home in 69 days and while I'm already having serious Starbucks and Chipotle cravings (I've already put my order in for when my plane lands in Portland), I am SO not ready to leave this amazing city! Lucky for me, I still have ten more weeks here and I plan to make the most out of every single one!

While I didn't do any crazy traveling in the last two weeks, I had one of the most enlightening, fascinating weeks ever here in Granada and in Cordoba (a Spanish town a few hours away). I learned more this week about the Islamic culture and religion than I have in my entire life. I had my eyes opened to the beauty of a new and undiscovered (for me) religion and I felt sadness and embarrassment at the preconceived notions I had at all things relating to Islam.

Let me begin by saying that, as Americans, especially following the September 11 attacks, we are incredibly prejudiced against Muslims. As a country that is supposed to offer religious freedom to all peoples, we have failed an entire community. Yes, there are Muslim extremists who do not deserve the freedom to exercise their "religion," but there are extremists in every religion and they are usually the minority.

On Tuesday, my history class, Islamic Civilization in Spain and Northern Africa until 1492, took a field trip to a local mosque at the top of the Albaizin neighborhood. The girls were told we needed to cover our shoulders, knees, and cover our heads with a scarf in order to respect the religious building we would be entering so, as a precaution, I wore a maxi dress, sweater and head scarf. We were led to the mosque by a woman who was born in California but moved to spain in the 70s with her husband and converted from Catholicism to Islam. Her and a group of other european/western converts began practicing Islam together and built a community amongst themselves in Granada, eventually raising enough money to build their mosque and community center - the first in Spain built by converts. Now, many of their children have become leaders of their community, while others still have decided not to continue with their Islamic faith.

My mosque visiting apparel

We spent most of the time in the mosque asking the woman questions about what it was like to convert to Islam and what it is like to be a woman in a faith where women are stereotypically treated so poorly. Hearing how she was basically excommunicated from her family in California was sad, but I found her explanation of what it is like to be a woman of Islamic faith fascinating. She explained that she actually appreciates being covered most of the time because when she was young and first came to Spain she was quite disturbed at and made very uncomfortable by how men on the streets would treat her so she naturally began covering herself even before she converted to Islam. She also explained how different it is to be a Muslim woman in a country like Spain compared with a country like Saudi Arabia, where Muslims interpret the Koran differently, treating women much differently and more harshly than those in more developed and modern countries. She said she would never want to be a Muslim woman in a country like that, but in Spain it is nice to have the camaraderie of the fellow women in her community. Many of her explanations of her religion seemed to make so much sense and it seems to be a religion (in more modern countries at least) that is very peaceful and misunderstood. The only thing I truly had a problem with is what women are subjected to in the Islamic community.

On Friday, my Islamic week continued when our entire IES program traveled to Cordoba in order to visit the ruins of an ancient Islamic city, Madinat Al-Zahra, and the famous Mosque of Cordoba. We arrived first at Madinat Al-Zahra where we watched an introductory video about how the city was used by the Califa in ancient times as a residence and military headquarters. It showed re-creations of the buildings and rooms we would see as well as the gardens which looked like oases in the desert landscape. The ruins were fabulous. The fact that even parts of them are still standing nearly a thousand years later is absolutely amazing. The arches and details in many of the walls were incredibly beautiful as well. As a history major, having the opportunity to walk through the rooms where people lived and walked a thousand years before was wonderful.

Next, we went to the Mosque of Cordoba (or the Cathedral of Cordoba but more on that later). The mosque was absolutely amazing. The red and white arches of the interior of the building are unique to Cordoba and give the building a unique beauty. The size and intricacy of the mosque was mind-blowing, but not as mind-blowing as the juxtaposition of the Catholic and Islamic religions and architecture inside of the building. You see, following the conquering of the region by the Catholic Kings, the interior of the ancient mosque was replaced with a Catholic cathedral. The main structure of the building as well as the exterior wall and gardens were maintained, but the interior section was altered to reflect typical Catholic architecture.

I'll be honest, seeing the cathedral inside of the mosque, which we have been learning about for weeks in my Islamic Art and Architecture class was slightly upsetting. As an American, I feel very strongly that all religions deserve respect and I find it incredibly upsetting when this is not the case. The Mosque of Cordoba is an important historical and religious location for many Muslim people and, under Catholic rule, they are now prohibited from entering the building to pray. Thankfully, at least parts of the Islamic architecture have been preserved, but there was something so wrong to me about seeing the Catholic elements inside of the mosque. Understandably, when the Catholics overtook the region hundreds of years ago, preserving the history of those they had conquered was not on the top of their to-do list and that's completely acceptable, but as an agnostic American in 2013, I found the entire situation quite upsetting. The icing on the cake for me was reading the guide brochure at the front entrance. Never in my life have I read such a skewed account of history. I have so much respect for both religions, and some of the Catholic cathedrals I have been in have been some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen, but I would have much preferred not to have to witness, firsthand, the persecution and prejudice of the Islamic people in Spain. When I look back on my trip to Cordoba twenty years from now, I won't remember that we visited the "Cathedral of Cordoba," I will remember the beautiful red and white arches and the intricate architecture of the Mosque of Cordoba.

Overall, I'm so grateful for everything I learned this week about the Islamic culture. I only wish that every American could have seen and heard the things that I did this week. I also feel quite blessed to learn about these things in a country that has such a rich Islamic culture, even though historically, following the Catholic conquering of the region, Muslims were treated as poorly in Spain as they are in the United States. However, without a doubt, the way in which I am taught these things here is so much less biased than they would be in the U.S. and for that I am so grateful. You can't have an opinion about something—anything at all—until you completely understand it and while I have a LONG way to go before I understand the Islamic religion, I am thankful that I am at least beginning to learn about it, and to do so in a way that few others have had the opportunity to.