SON OF SARAKI

Let’s put the facts in perspective so nobody gets misled by half-truths: First of all, the Vatican did not build a mosque. The Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library clarified that they simply placed a rug inside a small, private side room for visiting academic researchers who are invited to study historic Arabic and Islamic manuscripts housed in the library. It is not open to the public, and there is no mosque inside Vatican City.  Second, why does a Muslim scholar need a quiet room while a Christian researcher does not? Because in Islam, the five daily prayers (Salah) are strictly timed by the position of the sun and require physical bowing and prostration (Sujud) on a clean floor. If a Muslim scholar works inside a research archive from morning till evening, Dhuhr, Asr, and Maghrib will meet him right inside that building. A Christian’s daily personal prayer does not require prostrating on a rug at fixed solar hours. Again, if the question is about private prayer spaces in Saudi Arabia, may I also inform you that over two million Christians currently live and work in Saudi Arabia, and Saudi law explicitly guarantees the right of non-Muslims to worship privately in their homes, residential compounds, and diplomatic missions.  And finally, if we want to talk about historical hospitality, over 1,400 years ago, centuries before the Vatican Library even existed, a Christian delegation from Najran visited Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Madinah. That is right inside what is today Saudi Arabia.  While they were inside Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (the Prophet’s Mosque), their time for prayer arrived. As recorded by Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hisham, the Prophet (peace be upon him) told his companions to leave them be. Those Christians offered their prayers right inside his mosque. Islam does not take lessons on hospitality from anyone. We set the standard for it 1,400 years ago.