The Politics of Sacred Space in Downtown Beirut (1853-2008)

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of different stages in the coming about of the Muhammad al-Amin mosque, completed in 2005. By looking into the complex history of the mosque we document how a selection of actors became, willing or not, associated with what is now Lebanon’s largest congregational mosque, funded almost exclusively by former PM Rafiq Hariri. We argue that a number of physical alterations to the edifice are traces of history that illustrate legal as well as political debates surrounding a construction project that bestowed on the Lebanese capital a major landmark after a surprising trajectory that encompasses a century and a half. This contribution attempts to highlight how, by constant actions and reactions, a highly symbolical place of worship emerged into the skyline of a cosmopolitan metropolis in an ongoing, transformative process of acquiring, claiming and appropriating (sacred) land.