The American Muslim (TAM)

Saudi Destruction of Muslim Historical Sites - updated 1/28/2012

Sheila Musaji

Posted Jan 28, 2012 •Permalink • Printer-Friendly Version

Saudi Destruction of Muslim Historical Sites

by Sheila Musaji

Last year (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.

Photographs of Masjid al Haram in 1880, unknown year, 1910, 1954, 2000, 2004.

Photograph of Jannat al Mualla at Mecca before and after demolition, inside the Jannat.

Photographs of Jannat ul Baqi before and after it was razed

Photographs of Medina in 1907, old photo year unknown.

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.

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

An article Mecca for the rich: Islam’s holiest site ‘turning into Vegas’ was just published by the Independent in Britain. According to this article

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.

The Independent has a very interesting photograph with notes.

UPDATE 1/28/2012

A 35-minute video has been put online [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1vbN-rfTLk&sns=fbWahabi Destruction Of Makkah’s Historical Places[/url] which gives a great deal of information.

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”.