According to their source, the pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi, a local moderate Osama Abu al-Walid is quoted as saying:

“Calling Madaba’s new mosque after the son of the Virgin Mary is an important initiative to improve dialogue in our town, whose Christian and Muslim population coexists, …”

Local imam Jamal Safarati is further quoted to say:

“In this way, we want to emphasise that Jesus is also our prophet and is loved by all Muslims,”

A sentiment this writer can confirm from his visits to Jordan, a though conveyed to me first while touring  the King Abdullah I Mosque back in 2004 … and despite some of the insufferable, anti-American propaganda endured back in November when we me with a panel from Royal Institute for Interfaith-Studies.

Madaba, is a capital city of Madaba Governorate of Jordan, which has a population of about 60.000 located about 30 miles south-west of the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Madaba is the fifth most populous town in Jordan. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of Palestine and the Nile delta. The most famous mosaic is located in the Church of St. George in the middle of town. The Mosaic Map of Palestine represents the Holy Land and its surrounding regions. Clearly visible on the map are al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Nablus, al-Khalil (Hebron), Ariha (Jericho), Egypt and the Nile River, Turkey and Lebanon. The mosaic was made around 560 CE, originally composed of over 2.3 million pieces, and measured a staggering 25 by 5 meters.

• UPDATE  04Oct08 – ExpressBuzz has an article in this Mosque as well.

“There are neighborhood mosques everywhere in Amman. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. Many of them are striking and quite beautiful. But there are also some cool churches. Here are some steeples with the Amman cityscape in the background. I found these towards the top of Jebel Ashrafiyeh within blocks of each other and also the Abu Darwish Mosque. I think these speak for themselves.” – Brian, Pilgrim Without a Shrine blog

I remember my 2004 trip to Amman, that after a tour of the King Abdullah I Mosque I spotted an Byzantine-fashioned cross adorning the building across the street.

Being raised Greek Orthodox I grabbed Chuck Holton and made a bee line across the street. It was indeed a Coptic Orthodox Church, its pews mostly filled with individuals of Egyptian descent – all engaged in worship during a presentation/practice of the divine liturgy.

Anyway, Brian’s post on Steeples in Amman reminded of that day – and of the diversity and respect this mostly Muslim country holds towards natural born Christians in Jordan.

I only wish I had more time to take more pictures. That said, it appears Brian McMorrow (not the same Brian as the blog post) has already done just that over on his photo gallery pages.