Houston Islamic Da'wa Center Photos (Sugar Land, West: house, college, subdivision)

[bamba_boy]

Originally Posted by Zhang Fei

This one looks like it was modeled upon the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Constantinople prior to Ottoman conquest), which was built (excluding the four Islamic towers, which were added after the Muslim conquest, of course) in the 6th century:



Interestingly enough, the Hagia Sophia had been closed for a couple of centuries due to earthquake damage, before Muslim conquest led to a wholesale renovation and restoration.

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Man, that's spooky. It HAD to be the model for the mid-20th century-built Blue Mosque of Malaysia. I wonder if they knew that it was originally built as an Eastern Orthodox CHRISTIAN church, not a mosque?

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by bamba_boy

,

Man, that's spooky. It HAD to be the model for the mid-20th century-built Blue Mosque of Malaysia. I wonder if they knew that it was originally built as an Eastern Orthodox CHRISTIAN church, not a mosque?

I bet you saw skyscrapers in Malaysia, too. Those were invented right here in the US of A. A good design is a good design, no matter who came up with it. Note that Roman Catholic churches are modeled on Roman temples (including the style of statuary, but not the deities, of course).

Weirdly enough, even the onion dome (as opposed to a flat dome) is a rip-off of a Russian Orthodox design:

In 1946, the historian Boris Rybakov, while analysing miniatures of ancient Russian chronicles, pointed out that most of them, from the thirteenth century onward, display churches with onion domes rather than helmet domes.[3] Nikolay Voronin, the foremost authority on pre-Mongol Russian architecture, seconded his opinion that onion domes existed in Russia as early as the thirteenth century, although they presumably could not be widespread.[4] These findings demonstrated that Russian onion domes could not be imported from the Orient, where onion domes did not replace spherical domes until the fifteenth century.

Sergey Zagraevsky, a modern art historian, surveyed hundreds of Russian icons and miniatures, from the eleventh century onward. He concluded that most icons painted after the Mongol invasion of Rus display only onion domes. First onion domes displayed on some pictures of twelfth century (two miniatures from Dobrylov Evangelie). [5] He found only one icon from the late fifteenth century displaying a dome resembling the helmet instead of an onion. His findings led him to dismiss fragments of helmet domes discovered by restorators beneath modern onion domes as post-Petrine stylisations intended to reproduce the familiar forms of Byzantine cupolas. Zagraevsky also indicated that the oldest depictions of the two Vladimir cathedrals represent them as having onion domes, prior to their replacement by classicizing helmet domes.

Zagraevsky explains the ubiquitous appearance of onion domes in the late thirteenth century by the general emphasis on verticality characteristic of Russian architecture from the late twelfth to early fifteenth centuries.[6] At that period, porches, pilasters, vaults and drums were arranged to create a vertical thrust, to make the church seem taller than it was.[7] It seems logical that elongated, or onion, domes were part of the same proto-Gothic trend aimed at achieving pyramidal, vertical emphasis.[8]

[nowaymo]

In the US, mosques in your neighborhood lower property values.

[Texas User]

Originally Posted by nowaymo

In the US, mosques in your neighborhood lower property values.

Why is that? Its a place to pray to God.
What about Churches?

[nowaymo]

Churches are part of American culture. Americans associate mosques with 9/11 and terrorism. that is why when these things go up, there are protests. Plus in areas where there are mosques, there are lots of Pakistani and Arabic people that move in and live in communal type homes where several generations and relatives live in the same house. I think that is why most neighborhoods have deed restrictions and definitions as to single family households. I guess it is just not enforced or reported out in the burbs like it is in west U. It is what it is. this is not Saudi Arabia.

Originally Posted by Texas User

Why is that? Its a place to pray to God.
What about Churches?

[Texas User]

Originally Posted by nowaymo

Churches are part of American culture. Americans associate mosques with 9/11 and terrorism. that is why when these things go up, there are protests. Plus in areas where there are mosques, there are lots of Pakistani and Arabic people that move in and live in communal type homes where several generations and relatives live in the same house. I think that is why most neighborhoods have deed restrictions and definitions as to single family households. I guess it is just not enforced or reported out in the burbs like it is in west U. It is what it is. this is not Saudi Arabia.

There is a misunderstanding with the religion of Islam. Maybe they should more educate themselves with the religion.

What about the guy Timothy Mcweigh? He is a Christian.

I don't think the value should go down just because there is a Mosq there.

[xavier1774]

Originally Posted by Texas User

....

I don't think the value should go down just because there is a Mosq there.

However, reality is that it is true. My real estate agent told me that is the case, but they do not keep stats on it.

[beanball]

Originally Posted by nowaymo

It is what it is. this is not Saudi Arabia.

Yea this is the Land of the Free. Religious tolerance? Phhhhhht

[Bulldawg82]

Originally Posted by Texas User

There is a misunderstanding with the religion of Islam. Maybe they should more educate themselves with the religion.

What about the guy Timothy Mcweigh? He is a Christian.

I don't think the value should go down just because there is a Mosq there.

McVeigh wasn't a Christian. He claimed to be agnostic.

[Bulldawg82]

Originally Posted by Texas User

Why is that? Its a place to pray to God.
What about Churches?

Property values do go down with churches as well. Parking and other headaches that come with churches, synagogues, and mosques usually are the culprits. We have a church down the road from us and its nothing short of a standstill in traffic on Sundays on that road. Unless you go to that church, most people just avoid that direction entirely. Small churches aren't a problem though, just the big/mega-ones.