Article

2019-05-14 Europe

'Sicilians have affinity for the Islamic world in their DNA'

[Aljazeera] Palermo, Italy - The sound of about two dozen children practising Quran recitations fills the otherwise empty Islamic Cultural Center of Via Roma in Palermo, Italy.

Two break out of the group and start playing hide-and-seek between a curtain that separates the children's section from the rest of the centre.

They are quickly ushered back to their place by Imam Sehab Uddin.

Home to more than 25,000 immigrants, many from majority Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Palermo, has become a symbol of multiculturalism and integration that has been built on Sicily's history.

A Muslim stronghold for about 200 years between the ninth and 11th centuries, the Mediterranean island - of which Palermo is the capital - still bears the marks of Islamic history both physically and culturally.
See: "True Romance" - "you're an eggplant"
Ahmad Abd Al Majid Macaluso, the Imam of Palermo, walks through the San Giovanni degli Eremiti monastery and points to a discoloured section of wall.

He explains that was where the Mihrab used to be, the semi-circular carving in a mosque's wall that faces the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam.

"Every church here used to be a mosque which used to be a synagogue which used to be a church which was a mosque," he explains. "This is the history of Sicily."

Posted by Besoeker 2019-05-14 01:57|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 points to a discoloured section of wall

"...and there is the relief portal."

Posted by Skidmark 2019-05-14 06:38|| 2019-05-14 06:38|| Front Page Top

Posted by Frank G 2019-05-14 07:39|| 2019-05-14 07:39|| Front Page Top

#3 Beat me to it. A classic!

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-05-14 07:53|| 2019-05-14 07:53|| Front Page Top

#4 Having a large dollop of Sicilian myself, all I can say is
va fan cule, capa de minghe

Posted by Phomorong Pelosi5448 2019-05-14 08:43|| 2019-05-14 08:43|| Front Page Top

#5 :-)

Posted by Frank G 2019-05-14 08:52|| 2019-05-14 08:52|| Front Page Top

#6 Not since 1063 have they had an "affinity" for Islam.

Maybe an affinity for killing them. That I would agree with.

Posted by DarthVader 2019-05-14 09:07|| 2019-05-14 09:07|| Front Page Top

#7 A Muslim stronghold for about 200 years between the ninth and 11th centuries,

Like those times that Poland was a German stronghold.

#Enrichment!

Posted by charger 2019-05-14 09:08|| 2019-05-14 09:08|| Front Page Top

#8 I think I just read the triple crown of horse shit.

Posted by swksvolFF 2019-05-14 11:00|| 2019-05-14 11:00|| Front Page Top

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