This last weekend the Muslims of France were holding their 29th Annual Conference in Paris. Refused visas to enter France by the French President, notable Muslim scholars such as Sheikh Yusuf el-Qaradawy were denied the opportunity to address the Conference. However, whatever motives inspired politicians in the last few weeks before the French presidential election to act in such a way, Paris itself remained untouched by the controversy. Cairo - Paris, the city of romance! Ask anyone to name the first image of Paris that comes to mind and they will almost certainly come up with the Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe might figure somewhere in their thoughts, but the Eiffel Tower would come top. It is one of the most easily recognisable monuments in the world. In its first year, it had 2 million visitors and it now averages 6 million per year. To date, it has received over 220 million visitors, which does not include the countless millions who have seen it from afar. So, what makes the Eiffel Tower so popular, and what is its enduring appeal to the imagination of the peoples of the world? Inaugurated on March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower formed the entrance arch to the Universal Exhibition, held to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. Submitted as part of a design competition, the Eiffel Tower was unanimously chosen to be the winner out of a total of seven hundred other designs. It took three hundred steel workers exactly 2 years 2 months and 5 days to construct and it is made up of over 18,000 separate pieces, like a giant construction kit that stands 324 metres high above the Paris skyline. An amazing 40 tonnes of paint were used before the Tower was considered ready to be opened to the public. The Eiffel Tower was for many years the tallest building in the world, until it was surpassed by New York's Chrysler Building in 1930. Surprisingly, the Opening Ceremony was not carried out by a Frenchman at all, but by the English Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII), in one of those rare moments in history when France and Britain were, at least on the surface, trying to be the best of friends. The Tower has 1665 steps and has three platforms at different heights, which include a very expensive restaurant, a meteorological station and radio and television transmitters. The elevator speeds visitors to the top, where it is said that the view it affords of Paris one hour before sunset is truly beautiful and, in the most Parisian fashion, very romantic. When the Germans invaded France in the Second World War, Adolf Hitler was denied this view of his newly conquered city. The lift cables had been cut to prevent his going to the top! Throughout its history, the Eiffel Tower has not been without its lighter moments. In 1954, it was successfully scaled by a mountaineer, and thirty years later someone parachuted off the top. Others have been arrested trying to do the same. In the 1920's, though, the most amusing moment of all occurred. The Tower was sold twice – by a man who didn't own it. Confidence trickster, Victor Lustig, or “Count” Victor Lustig as he called himself, read that there had been a history of uncertainty about the Tower's future and so he played on this to convince scrap metal dealers that he was acting on behalf of the French government and he sold it to them for scrap – twice. The first time he was so successful that he tried his confidence trick again, but when he was found out after the sale he fled to the United States, leaving the Eiffel Tower to the people of Paris. The Eiffel Tower, though, was not always beloved of Parisians. In fact, at its opening it was greeted with a public outcry against what people saw as a monstrous construction that would disfigure the look of their city. Perhaps most surprisingly, it was the artistic community of Paris that was most against it, and a petition was signed by three hundred prominent writers and artists, including Guy de Maupassant, Emile Zola and the younger Alexandre Dumas. Despite their protests, the building went ahead. Muslims read in the Holy Qur'an in Surat Al-Kahf: Nor say of anything, “I shall be sure to do So and so tomorrow” – Except, “If Allah so wills”….. Holy Qur'an 18:23-24 The Parisian authorities had only granted the Eiffel Tower a building permit for a limited number of years. They were due to pull it down in 1920, but popular opinion had changed and another public outcry caused them to relent. But that's life. C'est la vie! We can never be certain what will happen or what course events will take, can we? We have plans to do this and to that and they often come to nothing. We oppose this or that idea and it still bears fruit. Muslims use that little phrase, “inshallah.”It doesn't mean “maybe” or “hopefully,” but “if Allah wills it to be so.” Only by saying “inshallah” can we put our lives and our plans in a proper context. If Allah so wills, the sun will come up tomorrow morning and go down in the evening. Not a moment of worrying on our part will have the slightest effect. And, inshallah, the Eiffel Tower will remain standing for at least another hundred years, despite the opinions or the plans of its outraged citizens, lending grace and elegance to Paris, that most beautiful of cities. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, is a lecturer at Al-Azhar University. The author of eight books about Islam, he divides his time between Egypt and the UK as a speaker, writer and broadcaster. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com.
