Maghreb minaret measuring contest
So, now it's official: Algeria will build the world's third largest mosque, after the ones in Mekka and Medina. Plunked down in the hitherto low-key bay of Algiers, it will take 120,000 faithful, in addition to sporting the world's highest minaret -- a whopping 300 meters. Building will start in 2009 and it is to be inaugurated in 2013, although if the Algiers metro construction* is any guide, that will be more like 2050.
Coincidentally, the Algiers mosque will overshadow the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, whose minaret, as of now the world's highest, has been a 210-meter thorn in the Algerian government's side for years.
So that's money well spent, considering how Algeria has no social problems to speak of. On the other hand, I guess it's better than another arms race. Oh, well, boys will be boys.
6 comments:
I bet Hassan II is rolling in his mausoleum.
Off topic, but have you seen that PJD actually won the Moroccan elections?
Istiqlal got 10,7% of the votes but PJD got 10,9%, according to the final figures published by MAP.
This news flash was revealed by an inter-university group in Spain in the Canarian magazine Tara.
Although the biggest party, PJD did not get most seats in the Moroccan quasi-parliament.
Gatita -- Yeah. I just wish they'd compete in democratization or something like that instead. Of course, both governments are running pretty impressive alphabetization campaigns right now, if I'm not mistaken. I would like to put that down to something other than juvenile self-esteem issues, but one shan't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Laroussi -- No, hadn't seen that. It's not surprising in and of itself, discrepancies between votes and seats due to how the voting districts function are pretty common anywhere ... but there was some sort of political redrawing of the boundaries before these elections, so I guess it is pretty significant. See here, for example.
My point is the hush-hush about the elections in international media.
In the end, PJD did become the largest party, according to the figures presented. Discrepancies among votes and seats is one thing (and common as you point out), but that the largest party does not get most seats is a completely different matter.
And as the Spanish students point out, Istiqlal got 16 percent of the votes according to the first official results and PJD 14 percent. Now it turns out that both got barely 10 percent each, but that PJD was indeed the largest party.
These results are from the local lists.
In the national lists however PJD got 13,4 percent and Istiqlal 11,8 percent.
PJD won both locally and nationally, but lost in the quasi-parliament.
The Moroccan elections have always been a farce, no need to turn them into a complete charade...
Well done Algeria. It is a worthwhile project and much needed. There is no problem competing in goodness... I certainly will look forward to praying in the mosque when finished.
I wish Algeria every luck. A very majestic project of modern Algeria. Jealous people aside, I think many will see it as yet another sign of Algerian revival.
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