Lots of pandemonium, series of
outcries and everything enough to denounce any individual or ideology in public
began with the demolition of Babri Mosque at Ayodhya in 1992 and the same trend
has been ceaseless in the last two decades. While one group of secularists term
Hindus as both lunatics and criminals, other group is ever ready to banish Hindus
from India apart from terming them as brazen goons. But none speaks of one
thing ever – restoration of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi at Ayodhya has been a demand of
Hindus for more than centuries.
What do they say if the same is
done by Muslims? Either they will be found to shrug or will disappear from
before you. Islamic government in Saudi Arabia is recklessly determined to destruct
holy and also historic sites related to Islam and its evolution. But both the
global Islamic world and also Muslims in India prefer to suppress this cruel
reality.
Go through
the following article to know more:
Saudi
destruction of holy and historical sites
We have rendered the shrine (the
Kaaba) a focal point for the people, and a safe sanctuary. You may use
Abraham’s shrine as a prayer house. We commissioned Abraham and Ishmael: “You
shall purify My house for those who visit, those who live there, and those who
bow and prostrate.” … And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations
of the House, (Abraham prayed): Our Lord! Accept from us (this duty). Lo! Thou,
only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower. (2:125-127)
In 2006 we published an article about the planned Saudi destruction of the home
of Prophet Muhammad, and another about the destruction of Islam’s historic sites by the Saudi’s over
the past 50 years..
The current issue of Islamica magazine
- the best Islamic print periodical available in English - has
a series of articles on the Saudi destruction of Muslim historical sites, and
the need for preservation of remaining sites in Saudi and elsewhere. (The
Saudi “repair” projects in Bosnia are also a lesson in
destruction of Muslim history.) Anyone who can should check with their local
news stand to see if this issue is still available, or better yet, get a
subscription to Islamica if you don’t already have one. Editors
note: Islamica Magazine stopped publishing in 2009, and many articles are
no longer available online except for those that were reprinted on other
sites. In 2010 they set up a site to archive old articles and will work
towards getting all the old articles online. Here are those on this topic
that are now online: The destruction of the holy sites in Mecca and Medina, Irfan
Ahmed -The birth and immanent death of a sacred Meccan site, Shafiq
Morton - Memorializing the sacred in the Islamic civilization context,
Yousef Waleed Meri
The Ottomans did an excellent job in their
centuries as custodians and protected and documented historic sites, and now their meticulous care is being
reversed in a short time. In fact, the Saudi’s are also destroying Ottomon history. For example,
the Ajyad Fortress (Turkish: Ecyad Kalesi) was an Ottoman fort built in Mecca,
in what is now Saudi Arabia, in the late 18th century. It was destroyed by the
Saudi government in 2002 for commercial development, sparking a global outcry.
History is being erased in order to accommodate ever increasing numbers of pilgrims.
Over 300 sites have been destroyed in the last 50 years. 95% of the sites in Mecca have been destroyed. As
few as 20 structures are left that date back to the time of the Prophet. It
would seem that at this rate there won’t be much for those like Congressman
Tancredo who suggested Nuking Mecca to destroy. Muslim silence over the destruction is shocking.
A Mecca conference in 2005 that criticized Israeli destruction of historic sites, and the
Saudi protest of the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India would seem hypocritical.
The site where the Prophet grew up has
already been demolished, a library has now been built over the house where the
Prophet was born and now there are plans to demolish that to build skyscrapers.
Five of the renowned “Seven Mosques”
initially built by Prophet Muhammad’s daughter and four of his “greatest
Companions”: Masjid Abu Bakr, Masjid Salman al-Farsi, Masjid Umar ibn
al-Khattab, Masjid Sayyida Fatima bint Rasulillah and Masjid Ali ibn Abi Talib
have been demolished.
The Saudi’s have announced an award — called “Prince Sultan ibn Salman Award for
Architectural Heritage” — which will be presented in three fields — research
related to architectural heritage, use of architectural heritage in new designs
and heritage restoration and rehabilitation. However, by the time anyone
might win such an award what will be left to protect?
What we can do is at least protest any
further destruction. We can contact the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC or the Saudi
Arabian Cultural Mission and ask them to preserve Islam’s historical
sites. I am grateful that I was able to experience Hajj before this destruction began to speed
up.
UPDATE February 2008
… The extremism of today’s Salafi
movement has become a force of annihilation, which spares no one in its drive
to dominate the Muslim world. It is closely linked to the Wahhabi movement
founded by Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al Wahab (1703–1792 AC). His aim was to purify
Islam by returning all Muslims to what he believed were its original principles
as typified by al Salaf al Şalihīn (the earliest converts to Islam). He
rejected what he regarded as corruption introduced by bid‘a (innovation,
reformation) and shirk (idolatry). During his lifetime, he denounced the
practices of various sects of Sufism as heretical and unorthodox, such as their
veneration of saints. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al Wahab revived interest in the works
of an earlier scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah (661–728AH/1263–1328AC), and his disciple,
Ibn al Jawziyyah (d. 1350 AC). … The Arabian Peninsula became the
launching pad for the new politico-religious trend. This led to the destruction
of more than 90 per cent of Islamic monuments, holy places, tombs and
mausoleums. Anything that had symbolic significance unrelated to the Wahhabi
school of thought was deemed “polytheistic” and faced destruction. In 1924,
‘Abd al ‘Aziz ibn Sa‘ud and his troops occupied Makkah in the region of Hejaz.
Among their first actions was the destruction of al Mu’alla graveyard, which
contained the grave of Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s wife, and that of his
uncle, Abu Talib. Two years later, in 1926, Ibn Sa‘ud occupied Madinah and
demolished the tombed mausoleum over the graves of several of Prophet
Muhammad’s descendants, including those of his daughter, Fatimah, and his
grandson, Hassan ibn ‘Ali. Since no tangible resistance to their heinous
actions was mounted by Muslims, they went even further and demolished the
famous Seven Mosques of Salman al Farisi, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, Fatimah, ‘Ali, al
Qiblatayn and al Fath.
UPDATE November 2010
A new 485-metre-high Mecca clocktower has
been built. Some highlights about the project of which the clocktower is
a part from an excellent Guardian article:
— The clocktower is part of a project that
buckles under the weight of its own statistics. Abraj al-Bait, a complex of
luxury hotels, malls and apartments, has an estimated value of $3bn (£1.86bn),
a built-up area of 1.4m sq metres, 15,000 housing units and 70,000 sq metres of
retail space.
— The level of pampering offered by some of
the hotels – Asprey toiletries, 24-hour butler service, $270 chocolate
selections – may jar with the ethos of sacrifice, simplicity and humility of
hajj but it is not a contradiction felt by the customers snapping up royal
suites at $5,880 a night, eating gelato or milling around hangar-like lobbies
of polished marble in their Hajj clothing of bedsheets, towels or burqas.
Raffles is reporting 100% occupancy for it 211 rooms.
— The view from al-Bait reveals the physical
impact of this soaring ambition. All around the Grand Mosque and the Ka’bah,
which are overshadowed by cranes and skyscrapers, construction continues at a
frenzied pace. Mountains have been razed to make way for towers– a pile ‘em
high and sell ‘em high approach to hospitality – and homes demolished.
— The mountains of Mecca – Omar, Kaabah,
Khandama – will no longer exist. The Shamiya district has all but disappeared.
From the terrace of al-Bait to street level there is a stench of machine oil
and cement that mingles with the more familiar odours of hajj – sweat, hardship
and flipflops.
UPDATE 9/23/2011
But critics fear that the desire to expand
the pilgrimage sites has allowed the authorities to ride roughshod over the
area’s cultural heritage. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95
per cent of Mecca’s millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past
two decades alone.
The destruction has been aided by Wahabism,
the austere interpretation of Islam that has served as the kingdom’s official
religion ever since the al-Sauds rose to power across the Arabian Peninsula in
the 19th century.
In the eyes of Wahabis, historical sites and
shrines encourage “shirq” – the sin of idolatry or polytheism – and should be
destroyed. When the al-Saud tribes swept through Mecca in the 1920s, the first
thing they did was lay waste to cemeteries holding many of Islam’s important
figures. They have been destroying the country’s heritage ever since. Of the
three sites the Saudis have allowed the UN to designate World Heritage Sites,
none are related to Islam.
The article lists a number of sites that have
been destroyed or are in danger of being destroyed.
UPDATE November 2012
“More and more people are speaking out
against the Saudi regime, and the way in which its Wahhabi ideology has linked
together an utter disregard for the historical heritage of Muslims with an
unabashed embrace of vapid capitalism. In both Mecca and Medina, the Saudi
state has already bulldozed over 90% of the Islamic monuments going back some
1400 years. In their place, they are putting up five star hotels, parking lots,
and shopping malls.
… So this is what it has come to. The so-called
“Guardians of the two sanctuaries” bulldoze Islamic history, tear down the
houses associated with the Prophet and his family, and in its place put up
shopping malls by vapid symbols of the most crass capitalistic materialism the
world has to offer. No wonder many are talking about the transformation of
Mecca into another Las Vegas.
… Furthermore, in place of these historical
monuments, many of which hold a sacred significance to all Muslims outside of
the Wahhabi sect, the Saudi state is building five star hotels that cost as
much as $7,000 a night. In other words, these policies are not only bulldozing
the history of Islam, they are also subverting the radical egalitarian
teachings of Islam most beautifully symbolized in the rich and poor standing
shoulder to shoulder wearing simple unadorned clothing in the House of the One
God. Now the poor teeming masses are below, and the ultra-rich can reside in
their 5-star suites looking down at the Ka’ba. Lastly, these absurd towers even
displace the very symbolism and centrality of the Ka’ba.
The Saudis make a great deal of their
honorific as the “Caretaker of the two Noble Sanctuaries” in Mecca and Medina.
One has to wonder about a kind of Care that says no to the legacy of Muhammad,
bulldozes it, and invites Paris Hilton in its place. …
UPDATE 1/28/2012
Shehnaz Kermali has written an excellent article about the fact that the Saudi elite
are proud of the British Museum’s current Hajj exhibition, and notes that “it’s
a shame they don’t feel the same about all their heritage”.
UPDATE 11/20/2012
The key Islamic heritage site, including
Prophet Mohammed’s shrine, is to be bulldozed, as Saudi Arabia plans a $ 6
billion expansion of Medina’s holy Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque. However, Muslims
remain silent on the possible destruction. Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi
in Medina, is planned to start as soon as the annual Hajj pilgrimage comes to a
close at the end of November.
… Concerns are growing that the
expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will come at the price of three of the world’s
oldest mosques nearby, which hold the tombs of Prophet Mohammed and two of his closest
companions, Abu Bakr and Umar. The expansion project which will cost 25 billion
SAR (more than US $6 billion) reportedly requires razing holy sites, as old as
the seventh century.
UPDATE
3/30/2013
… The authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun
dismantling some of the oldest sections of Islam’s most important mosque as
part of a highly controversial multi-billion pound expansion. Photographs
obtained by The Independent reveal how workers with drills and mechanical
diggers have started demolishing some Ottoman and Abbasid sections on the
eastern side of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.
… But such a transformation has come at
a cost. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of
Mecca’s millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades
alone. Dozens of key historical sites dating back to the birth of Islam have
already been lost and there is a scramble among archaeologists and academics to
try and encourage the authorities to preserve what little remains. Many
senior Wahabis are vehemently against the preservation of historical Islamic
sites that are linked to the prophet because they believe it encourages shirq –
the sin of idol worshipping. But Dr Irfan al-Alawi, executive director of
the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation which obtained the new photographs
from inside the Grand Mosque, says the removal of the Ottoman and Abbasid
columns will leave future generations of Muslims ignorant of their
significance. …
What
has changed?
In Saudi Arabia, Muslim
historic sites, graveyards, mosques, etc. stood for centuries (some from the
earliest days of Islam in the 6th century) and were protected by the Ottomans
and previous generations. Under the Saudi’s these sites are being
destroyed. The Saudi’s began destroying historical sites as soon as they
came to power in 1806, but were stopped by the Ottomans who even attempted to
restore some of the sites. The Saudi’s did not get an opportunity to
continue with their destruction until after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in
the early 20th century.
What
changed between the 6th century and the 20th/21st centuries?
The
destruction of Islamic cultural heritage has gone far beyond Saudi Arabia.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan stood in the
Bamyan valley of Afghanistan since the 5th century AD. Islam came to this
area between the 7th and 9th centuries AD. There was some damage done to the
statues over the centuries, blamed on various individual kings &
emperors. But the statues stood for 1,000 years in a predominantly Muslim
country. The Taliban commander responsible for destroying the statues in
2001 was prevented from doing so for some years by local authorities, and even
by Mullah Mohammed Omar. The Guardian reported “But the Taliban then decided to take a more
pragmatic view of Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic past. In July 1999 Mullah Omar
issued a decree that said the Bamiyan buddhas should be preserved. There were,
he pointed out, no Buddhists left in Afghanistan to worship them. But he added:
“The government considers the Bamiyan statues as an example of a potential
major source of income for Afghanistan from international visitors. The Taliban
states that Bamiyan shall not be destroyed but protected.”
The Taliban destruction of the Buddhas of
Bamiyan which was condemned by most Muslims at the time it
happened. This passage from an American Muslim condemnation of this act
expresses the shock that such a thing could have happened:
The statues in Afghanistan are its historic
treasures. These statues have existed in Afghanistan long before Afghans became
Muslims. No Afghan Muslim government in the past tried to destroy them.
They represent the past history of Afghanistan and its transformation into a
Muslim community that recognized monotheism. Past generations and governments
of Afghanistan did not destroy these images and yet Islam flourished in
Afghanistan. In many other countries where Muslims are a majority, and
have ruled those lands for centuries, they did not destroy the religious
symbols of other people. Such images and symbols of the past still exist in
almost all Muslim countries.
What
changed between the 9th century and the 20th/21st centuries?
In Libya, the graves of
scholars and Sufi saints have stood since the 15th century. In 2012
extremists began destroying these graves. In Timbuktu, Mali, hundreds
of thousands of manuscripts have been lovingly maintained in its libraries
since the 14th century. In the 20th century hardline extremists attempted
to destroy many of these manuscripts. They set fire to some libraries,
and also smashed graves and shrines. In Tunisia,
extremists have attacked almost 40 Sufi shrines in the past few years.
In Somalia, Iraq, and Pakistan,
extremists are attacking Sufi shrines regularly. InBosnia,
Saudi Arabia has offered to help restore mosques and historical sites
damaged during the war. Instead, under the pretense of helping restore
them, they have been destroyed and rebuilt. Old Ottoman era
cemeteries and Sufi shrines have been razed.
What
changed between the 15th century and the 20th/21st centuries?
In Egypt, Malaysia, Kenya,
extremists are targeting Sufi shrines regularly. Extremists are attacking
minority communities, including Shia, Ahmadi, Christians, Sikhs, Sufis,
etc. Even in countries where communities have lived together in relative
peace for centuries, there is now a lack of tolerance, and even violence
towards minorities. In Pakistan, whose “Quaidi Azam” or great leader and
founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was a Shia, the Shia are now undergoing
intense persecution.
What
changed in the 20th/21st centuries?
Something new and destructive became a force
within many Muslim communities. Certainly, colonialism and the many
destructive legacies of colonialism have had a negative impact. The
formation of the State of Israel by decree of former colonial powers and without
taking into consideration the rights of the existing local community had a
profound effect on not only the Middle East, but on the world. The
collapse of the Ottoman Empire also had a negative impact.
All of these are important – but one negative
force is rarely mentioned. That is the rise of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia,
followed by the discovery of vast oil resources making the Saudi’s extremely
wealthy. This allowed them to use those vast resources to spread their
particular interpretation of Islam around the world. The destructive
impulse has spread around the world wherever Wahhabi teachings have gone.
Saudi Arabia funded madrassas that produced
the Taliban and many other extremist groups. They spread their ideology
through sending Imams around the globe. They provided their own “revised”
translations of the Qur’an, as well as “new” translations that provide only an
extreme interpretation in line with their interpretation. We saw this
right in the U.S. with the “revised” Yusuf Ali, and the Hilali-Khan translations that were given away free by the
case to mosques across the country. They have funded all of this with
petro-dollars. And, although they are anti-traditional Islam, and
anti-West, because of their oil, they have been supported by the West.
It is past time for Muslims around the world
to speak out against this destruction of our heritage. It is not only
buildings that are being destroyed.
UPDATE 7/19/2013
Hundreds of would-be pilgrims denied the
chance to travel to Mecca made a virtual tour of the Muslim holy sites on
Thursday after breaking their fasts next to an Ottoman mosque on Istanbul’s
Bosphorus shore.
Saudi Arabia’s religious authorities last
month approved a request by the government to reduce the number of pilgrims,
including those from abroad, permitted at the hajj this year to allow expansion
work at Mecca’s Grand Mosque.
A real hajj guide and seven actors in the
Istanbul square, their shadows projected on three giant screens showing videos
of Mecca, tried to recreate the pilgrimage. …
The Huffington Post just published Mecca Clock Tower Photo Shows Kaaba In The Shadow Of Abraj Al-Bait
Building. The article opens with: “The Kaaba once
took center stage, but now it appears as a minute structure at the foot of a
clock tower and hotel, which opened in 2012. The Abraj Al-Bait Towers
loom over the Masjid Al-Haram in an ostentatious show of luxury that stands in
stark contrast to the piety and history symbolized by the Kaaba, a cube-shaped
structure believed by Muslims to have been originally built by the prophet
Abraham and his son Ishmael.” But this photo included in the article
says everything without words. It deserves to be used as a meditation on
“what has changed”.
