Do Muslims visit churches to admire the history and artwork?

[Joe98]

I have visited old churches in France and taken in the history and admired the artwork.


I have visited old Mosques in Turkey and taken in the history and admired the artwork.


Do Muslims visit old churches to take in the history and admire the artwork?

[Curaezipirid]

I guess Joe98, that some do and some don't, just like atheists.

Visiting the scenery is not what is required to be causal to the work of.

There is an Anglican Cathedral here in Brisbane which was begun 100 years ago, and in the more recently built end, it has a crescent moon and a star carved into the Masonry high high up where few can see it.

Now while it could be that in this time now, a few considerate, well meaning, and Faithful folk may be able to comprehend what occurred to enable that carving to be there; it could not be regarded to have been caused by us who comprehend such. But was clearly caused by the fact that before Australia was invaded by white men, and despite an earlier invasion of many East Asian Shaytan, there were Mujahideen at work among us Australians whom performed the Corroborees aligned to our Indigenous culture so as to cause that such things could happen.

I wonder who performed the deeds causal to mad cow steakhouses?

Wasalam

[IbnAbdulHakim]

dont most churches have pictures of jesus (Isa AS) and statues of him/
Its very hard to admire somethin which goes against your religion :X... well for me it is..

[Joe98]

In Islam Jesus is a prophet.

What is against your religion?

[Joe98]

ago, and in the more recently built end, it has a crescent moon and a star carved into the Masonry high high up where few can see it.

This is most likely out of respect for Islam and Judesism.

How many mosques have crosses and stars?

[IbnAbdulHakim]

In Islam Jesus is a prophet.

What is against your religion?

thanks for askinG

well making statues of Isa AS (jesus) is against our religion becoz we shouldnt try to imitate Gods creation and try creating it ourself. Also theres normally a lot of paintings of living creatures (humans etc) in churches and that goes against the islamic law which prohibits (living) pictures.

hope that answers your question

[Abdul Fattah]

Hagia sophia in istanbull is a famous examlpe

[جوري]

I love art history and architecture...... actually I have learned a great deal about even scandalous things visiting museums and attending seminars which can be quite costly if you are not a member....... it is just a hobby I had on the side to deflect from stresses of daily life.... I have not visited the CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE which was said to have been visited by omar Ibn Ilkhtab.... but when I get around to it I shall inshallah .......
on a side note though I like stained glass I look at it from an art point of view to me those figures aren't holy nor are they of Jesus anymore than the Danish toons are a depiction of prophet mohammed (PBUH).....

[Curaezipirid]

Alaikumassalam

There is a wooden carving that is meant to be of Isa at the same Cathedral I described; of a dude hanging on a cross anyhow. It hang over the pulpit and looks like a gargoyle.

I like big old church buildings. I reckon also that the stained glass windows are sort of story panels without true representation of the persons they name.

It is wrong to make likeness and worship them, since that can make it harder for a Soul to either decompose or burn that self that is being represented.

But most of the modern pictures of Isa are taken in form of facial structure from the shroud of Turin. There are a couple of European Scientists who proved that the Shroud of Turin was made perhaps by Leonardo DaVinci, and is certainly an early attempt at photography. But why would a person like Leonardo DaVinci want to make an image of his own self as to resemble Isa? I read an article about the science of this discovering in a British magazine called the Fortean Times; made by a bunch of folk who through the Henry Fort society (who ever he was?); and whom work to disprove any reports of supernatural events. Thereby they are left with a string of stories of events that are accorded the status of being truly supernatural because there is no pheasable alternative explaination.

It is really comforting that organisations like the CIA are also closely involved with investigating of such occurrances. Hi dudes!

I really really like old Cathedrals. My father imposed upon me unexpectedly as a teenager to write a school assignment about Gothic Architecture: flying butresses and all that! Cool! and cudos to Islam for the original science!

wasalam

I reckon that modern science has become veritably almost a decent religion in its own right: there are quite some many folk in Australia who would not be able to tell you on a good day what they truly believe. But they know it ain't church as they were taught of. But they also know that in their own experience of study of science there is so much unexplained about our immediate being, that how can we have made our existance so there must be a creative force larger than any Human or Jinn or shaytan or Angel. That certainty that has not been given any realistic model of faith needs for all us true believers to sustain our faith in its existance as life.

wasalam

[north_malaysian]

This is most likely out of respect for Islam and Judesism.

How many mosques have crosses and stars?

There are lots ex-mosques having crosses in Spain...

[Curaezipirid]

Alaikumassalam,

that is good to know

there are Christian Churches in Ireland with sheilah-na-gigs above the door carved into the stone

A sheilah-na-gig is an Artistic expression of a woman's private parts like there are some of among Hindu Art. I guess it only is for marking the building itself as a vessel that is passive in what it receives. What are other symbols that are carved into stone that communicate to all persons what the nature of the function of any building might be?

Mu'asalam

[glo]

Personally I am not a great fan of gothic churches - which can seem dark and menacing.
This is the cathedral in Cologne (which I lived close to as a child, as which we still like to visit when we go to Germany)



Follow this link for more pics: http://www.koelner-dom.de/domgalerie.html
And here are some of the gargoyles somebody mentioned ... http://www.koelner-dom.de/wasserspeier.html?&L=0

[Malaikah]

Glo, do the gargoyles actually mean something? or are they just art?

cool pic btw thats one freaky building

[Curaezipirid]

Alaikumassalam, nice picture, I like it most of all because I have been there also. But I was there only for one night and outside not inside. I was in 1991 early in the year, and we had a day time travelling ticket on the train but not enough money for accomodation, so we were going to spent the night in the nearby train station waiting room until we were invited by homeless folk to spend the night with them at a vigil against the Gulf war in front of that Cathedral. It was so cold. REALLY REALLY COLD. A prostitute approached me and asked me something like am I a woman but I was not sure about her meaning. I was wearing overalls and woollen jumpers and hats, and she had only a tiny dress and highheels and I thought why isn't she dead? The homeless people looked after us through the night.

The vigil against the gulf war had been started by young Peace activists but only the homeless people maintained it all night. That was unusual for me because I had been involved with the City of London Anti-Appartheid Group who had a picket on the South African Embassy in Trafalgar Square. We had to sit there all night. I had a visit from a person I met there recently and then got in contact with the person who had been the person with the job of ringing us up to make sure we committed to sitting in Trafalgar Square overnight. I liked that bunch of people because everybody was committed to a single aim. Everybody had very different backgrounds and everybody had found cause to loose any belief in the substance of modern social barriers. It was also a group of people whom had never learned of any way but protest as an expression of what they could perceive as wrong in modern society; but whom were still committed to working very hard to change what they could know as wrong. The nearby Church to that picket was Saint Martin in the Fields. I got to know some of the homeless folk around central London also: from being at that picket overnight, and because my children's father used to be a homeless person in London, and also by having a job with early morning shifts in central London. For a while I was supporting a whole household of anti-racist dossers in a squat in Brixton, but there were no gargoyles there!

Nice church picture anyhow. wasalam

[Curaezipirid]

alaikumassalam

now I am wondering: can a gargoyle represent a specific and specifically known, (so knowable) instance of black magic? They seem to represent that there might be some black magic around that could get you if you are not really careful. Like maybe: Be in Allah, and/or beware of shaytan who will look like this in your Dreams.

But I do not know!
wasalam

[glo]

Glo, do the gargoyles actually mean something? or are they just art?

cool pic btw thats one freaky building

Well, the gargoyles are described as 'water spewers'.
As far as I know they drain rain water off the roof.

I found this:

The word "Gargoyle" shares a root with the word "Gargle"; they come from "gargouille," an old French word for "Throat." A true gargoyle is a waterspout. An unusual carved creature that does not serve that purpose is properly called a "Grotesque."

Interesting site ... read more here:
http://www.stonecarver.com/gargoyle.html

[north_malaysian]

christianity is something new to Malaysia (except Malacca which Catholicism came in 1511), so most of the churches here have not so many artworks....

[glo]

The same is a case here in the UK.

You have to remember that churches don't all look the same - it largely depends on the architectural style at the time they were built.
Many modern churches - even Catholic ones - are much less decorative.
Protestant churches tend to be more sparse anyway, and don't have pictures of saints.

Actually, a church is not just a building, but also a term for the group of believers, the congregation, the worshippers.
The church I am part of does not have a building to call its own at all ... we meet in a school hall on a Sunday, and in people's houses during the week. There are no decorations or effigies, not even a crucifix.
Those things only act as visual clues or to focus people's mind (perhaps a bit like prayer beads) - they are not essential for the act of worship!

[north_malaysian]

Actually, a church is not just a building, but also a term for the group of believers, the congregation, the worshippers.
The church I am part of does not have a building to call its own at all ... we meet in a school hall on a Sunday, and in people's houses during the week. There are no decorations or effigies, not even a crucifix.
Those things only act as visual clues or to focus people's mind (perhaps a bit like prayer beads) - they are not essential for the act of worship!

Huh!!! so a church building is not 'important'?

[IbnAbdulHakim]

why would people wanna make a place of worship gothic?
i just dont get it
wont that just repel people from goin there and repenting