Indian historians have documented as many as...

churches into mosques reached a frenzy. Alphabetically, Wikipedia lists Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Cyprus where as late as 1974 following the Turkish invasion “church-to-mosque conversion” reached a peak. In Greece, there are scores of examples of this conversion. Many other European countries suffered the same fate.

Of course, the most recent example of this takeover is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople. Built as a cathedral as early as 537 CE in Constantinople it was converted sometime in the mid-15th century into a mosque and remained so until 1935 when it was made into a museum. In 2020, the Turkish government declared it once again to be a mosque. All Pope Francis could do was to express “regret.” After all, Christianity was guilty of the same iconoclastic sin.

Why then, is Reuters suggesting that this phenomenon of destroying temples and building in their place mosques is essentially Hindu one based on what Hindus claim? Herein lies the mischief that Stabroek News helps to perpetuate. Reuters being a European entity cannot be ignorant of what happened to pagan places of worship in Europe when Christianity became dominant, and subsequently to many Churches in the wake of the many Islamic invasions.

Travelling through north of India one is struck by the relative absence of any significant religious structure that predates the Islamic invasions. Certainly, none was allowed to be built after, and not a single temple was built in Delhi during the Moghul ascendency. This is not the case in the southern part of the country where some of the most ancient and grandest temples still stand. The reason for this difference lies in the fact that it was north India that faced the brunt of Islamic iconoclastic zeal. So contrary to what Reuters think, it is not a question of what Hindus claim or what they believe. Indian historians have documented as many as 40,000 that have been destroyed.

For now, some Hindu leaders are making the demand for the return of three such places of worship in addition to Ayodhya where we now have the grand Rama temple. The second is the complete restoration Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Lord Shiva. And the third is Krishna Janma Bhumi in Mathura where again a mosque has been built. Can the conflict that bedeviled the Ayodhya issue be avoided in these cases? We will have to wait and see.