The first article about the destruction of Mecca is from the perspective of a pious Muslim who is
broken-hearted at what the Saudis have done to the most revered sites in Mecca. The article is too long to post
here, so I urge you to visit the website and read it there, especially if you are Muslim:
http://www.sunnah.org/arabic/mawldhouse/Wahabi_desecration_Sh_Rifai.htm
Also read the article below. To understand what has happened to Roza Bal, understand the sick mentality that
allows it to happen at Mecca, the same mentality that destroyed the Bamiyam Buddha and the tomb of Joseph.
We must act fast or lose it all. 95% of Roza Bal has now been destroyed through so-called "renovations." The
artifacts are being removed to enrich just one man. Letters of appeal have been sent to the Chief Minister and
these letters have helped bring the situation to the attention of officials. If Saudi-Wahabi hardliners have no
scruples about destroying their own ancient history, then the entire world is on alert to protect what is left.
THE DESTRUCTION OF MECCA:
SAUDI HARDLINERS ARE WIPING OUT THEIR OWN HERITAGE
By Daniel Howden
The Independent
August 6, 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article304029.ece
Historic Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is being buried in an
unprecedented
onslaught by religious zealots.
Almost all of the rich and multi-layered history of the holy city is gone.
The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of
millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two
decades.
Now the actual birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed is facing the
bulldozers,
with the connivance of Saudi religious authorities whose hardline
interpretation of Islam is compelling them to wipe out their own heritage.
It is the same oil-rich orthodoxy that pumped money into the Taliban as
they
prepared to detonate the Bamiyan buddhas in 2000. And the same
doctrine --
violently opposed to all forms of idolatry -- that this week decreed that
the Saudis' own king be buried in an unmarked desert grave.
A Saudi architect, Sami Angawi, who is an acknowledged specialist on
the
region's Islamic architecture, told The Independent that the final
farewell
to Mecca is imminent: "What we are witnessing are the last days of
Mecca and
Medina."
According to Dr Angawi -- who has dedicated his life to preserving
Islam's
two holiest cities -- as few as 20 structures are left that date back to the
lifetime of the Prophet 1,400 years ago and those that remain could be
bulldozed at any time. "This is the end of history in Mecca and Medina
and
the end of their future," said Dr Angawi.
Mecca is the most visited pilgrimage site in the world. It is home to the
Grand Mosque and, along with the nearby city of Medina which houses
the
Prophet's tomb, receives four million people annually as they
undertake the
Islamic duty of the Haj and Umra pilgrimages.
The driving force behind the demolition campaign that has
transformed these
cities is Wahhabism. This, the austere state faith of Saudi Arabia, was
imported by the al-Saud tribal chieftains when they conquered the
region in
the 1920s.
The motive behind the destruction is the Wahhabists' fanatical fear that
places of historical and religious interest could give rise to idolatry or
polytheism, the worship of multiple and potentially equal gods.
The practice of idolatry in Saudi Arabia remains, in principle at least,
punishable by beheading. This same literalism mandates that
advertising
posters can and need to be altered. The walls of Jeddah are adorned
with ads
featuring people deliberately missing an eye or with a foot painted
over.
These contrived imperfections are the most glaring sign of an
orthodoxy that
tolerates nothing which fosters adulation of the graven image. Nothing
can,
or can be seen to, interfere with a person's devotion to Allah.
"At the root of the problem is Wahhabism," says Dr Angawi. "They
have a big
complex about idolatry and anything that relates to the Prophet."
The Wahhabists now have the birthplace of the Prophet in their sights.
The
site survived redevelopment early in the reign of King Abdul al-Aziz ibn
Saud 50 years ago when the architect for a library there persuaded the
absolute ruler to allow him to keep the remains under the new structure.
That concession is under threat after Saudi authorities approved plans
to
"update" the library with a new structure that would concrete over the
existing foundations and their priceless remains.
Dr Angawi is the descendant of a respected merchant family in
Jeddah and a
leading figure in the Hijaz -- a swath of the kingdom that includes the
holy
cities and runs from the mountains bordering Yemen in the south to the
northern shores of the Red Sea and the frontier with Jordan. He
established
the Haj Research Centre two decades ago to preserve the rich history
of
Mecca and Medina. Yet it has largely been a doomed effort. He says
that the
bulldozers could come "at any time" and the Prophet's birthplace
would be
gone in a single night.
He is not alone in his concerns. The Gulf Institute, an independent
news-gathering group, has publicised what it says is a fatwa, issued by
the
senior Saudi council of religious scholars in 1994, stating that
preserving
historical sites "could lead to polytheism and idolatry".
Ali al-Ahmed, the head of the organisation, formerly known as the Saudi
Institute, said: "The destruction of Islamic landmarks in Hijaz is the
largest in history, and worse than the desecration of the Koran."
Most of the buildings have suffered the same fate as the house of Ali-
Oraid,
the grandson of the Prophet, which was identified and excavated by Dr
Angawi. After its discovery, King Fahd ordered that it be bulldozed
before
it could become a pilgrimage site.
"The bulldozer is there and they take only two hours to destroy
everything.
It has no sensitivity to history. It digs down to the bedrock and then the
concrete is poured in," he said.
Similarly, finds by a Lebanese professor, Kamal Salibi, which
indicated that
once-Jewish villages in what is now Saudi Arabia might have been the
location of scenes from the Bible, prompted the bulldozers to be sent
in.
All traces were destroyed.
This depressing pattern of excavation and demolition has led Dr
Angawi and
his colleagues to keep secret a number of locations in the holy cities
that
could date back as far as the time of Abraham.
The ruling House of Saud has been bound to Wahhabism since the
religious
reformer Mohamed Ibn abdul-Wahab signed a pact with Mohammed
bin Saud in
1744. The combination of the al-Saud clan and Wahhab's warrior
zealots
became the foundation of the modern state. The House of Saud
received its
wealth and power and the hardline clerics got the state backing that
would
enable them in the decades to come to promote their Wahhabist
ideology
across the globe.
On the tailcoats of the religious zealots have come commercial
developers
keen to fill the historic void left by demolitions with lucrative
high-rises.
"The man-made history of Mecca has gone and now the Mecca that
God made is
going as well." Says Dr Angawi. "The projects that are coming up are
going
to finish them historically, architecturally and environmentally," he said.
With the annual pilgrimage expected to increase five-fold to 20 million
in
the coming years as Saudi authorities relax entry controls, estate
agencies
are seeing a chance to cash in on huge demand for accommodation.
"The infrastructure at the moment cannot cope. New hotels, apartments
and
services are badly needed," the director of a leading Saudi estate
agency
told Reuters.
Despite an estimated $13bn in development cash currently washing
around
Mecca, Saudi sceptics dismiss the developers' argument. "The
service of
pilgrims is not the goal really," says Mr Ahmed. "If they were
concerned for
the pilgrims, they would have built a railroad between Mecca and
Jeddah, and
Mecca and Medina. They are removing any historical landmark that is
not
Saudi-Wahhabi, and using the prime location to make money," he
says.
Dominating these new developments is the Jabal Omar scheme which
will
feature two 50-storey hotel towers and seven 35-storey apartment
blocks --
all within a stone's throw of the Grand Mosque.
Dr Angawi said: "Mecca should be the reflection of the multicultural
Muslim
world, not a concrete parking lot."
Whereas proposals for high-rise developments in Jerusalem have
prompted a
worldwide outcry and the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan
buddhas was
condemned by Unicef, Mecca's busy bulldozers have barely raised a
whisper of
protest.
"The house where the Prophet received the word of God is gone and
nobody
cares," says Dr Angawi. "I don't want trouble. I just want this to stop."
broken-hearted at what the Saudis have done to the most revered sites in Mecca. The article is too long to post
here, so I urge you to visit the website and read it there, especially if you are Muslim:
http://www.sunnah.org/arabic/mawldhouse/Wahabi_desecration_Sh_Rifai.htm
Also read the article below. To understand what has happened to Roza Bal, understand the sick mentality that
allows it to happen at Mecca, the same mentality that destroyed the Bamiyam Buddha and the tomb of Joseph.
We must act fast or lose it all. 95% of Roza Bal has now been destroyed through so-called "renovations." The
artifacts are being removed to enrich just one man. Letters of appeal have been sent to the Chief Minister and
these letters have helped bring the situation to the attention of officials. If Saudi-Wahabi hardliners have no
scruples about destroying their own ancient history, then the entire world is on alert to protect what is left.
THE DESTRUCTION OF MECCA:
SAUDI HARDLINERS ARE WIPING OUT THEIR OWN HERITAGE
By Daniel Howden
The Independent
August 6, 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article304029.ece
Historic Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is being buried in an
unprecedented
onslaught by religious zealots.
Almost all of the rich and multi-layered history of the holy city is gone.
The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of
millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two
decades.
Now the actual birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed is facing the
bulldozers,
with the connivance of Saudi religious authorities whose hardline
interpretation of Islam is compelling them to wipe out their own heritage.
It is the same oil-rich orthodoxy that pumped money into the Taliban as
they
prepared to detonate the Bamiyan buddhas in 2000. And the same
doctrine --
violently opposed to all forms of idolatry -- that this week decreed that
the Saudis' own king be buried in an unmarked desert grave.
A Saudi architect, Sami Angawi, who is an acknowledged specialist on
the
region's Islamic architecture, told The Independent that the final
farewell
to Mecca is imminent: "What we are witnessing are the last days of
Mecca and
Medina."
According to Dr Angawi -- who has dedicated his life to preserving
Islam's
two holiest cities -- as few as 20 structures are left that date back to the
lifetime of the Prophet 1,400 years ago and those that remain could be
bulldozed at any time. "This is the end of history in Mecca and Medina
and
the end of their future," said Dr Angawi.
Mecca is the most visited pilgrimage site in the world. It is home to the
Grand Mosque and, along with the nearby city of Medina which houses
the
Prophet's tomb, receives four million people annually as they
undertake the
Islamic duty of the Haj and Umra pilgrimages.
The driving force behind the demolition campaign that has
transformed these
cities is Wahhabism. This, the austere state faith of Saudi Arabia, was
imported by the al-Saud tribal chieftains when they conquered the
region in
the 1920s.
The motive behind the destruction is the Wahhabists' fanatical fear that
places of historical and religious interest could give rise to idolatry or
polytheism, the worship of multiple and potentially equal gods.
The practice of idolatry in Saudi Arabia remains, in principle at least,
punishable by beheading. This same literalism mandates that
advertising
posters can and need to be altered. The walls of Jeddah are adorned
with ads
featuring people deliberately missing an eye or with a foot painted
over.
These contrived imperfections are the most glaring sign of an
orthodoxy that
tolerates nothing which fosters adulation of the graven image. Nothing
can,
or can be seen to, interfere with a person's devotion to Allah.
"At the root of the problem is Wahhabism," says Dr Angawi. "They
have a big
complex about idolatry and anything that relates to the Prophet."
The Wahhabists now have the birthplace of the Prophet in their sights.
The
site survived redevelopment early in the reign of King Abdul al-Aziz ibn
Saud 50 years ago when the architect for a library there persuaded the
absolute ruler to allow him to keep the remains under the new structure.
That concession is under threat after Saudi authorities approved plans
to
"update" the library with a new structure that would concrete over the
existing foundations and their priceless remains.
Dr Angawi is the descendant of a respected merchant family in
Jeddah and a
leading figure in the Hijaz -- a swath of the kingdom that includes the
holy
cities and runs from the mountains bordering Yemen in the south to the
northern shores of the Red Sea and the frontier with Jordan. He
established
the Haj Research Centre two decades ago to preserve the rich history
of
Mecca and Medina. Yet it has largely been a doomed effort. He says
that the
bulldozers could come "at any time" and the Prophet's birthplace
would be
gone in a single night.
He is not alone in his concerns. The Gulf Institute, an independent
news-gathering group, has publicised what it says is a fatwa, issued by
the
senior Saudi council of religious scholars in 1994, stating that
preserving
historical sites "could lead to polytheism and idolatry".
Ali al-Ahmed, the head of the organisation, formerly known as the Saudi
Institute, said: "The destruction of Islamic landmarks in Hijaz is the
largest in history, and worse than the desecration of the Koran."
Most of the buildings have suffered the same fate as the house of Ali-
Oraid,
the grandson of the Prophet, which was identified and excavated by Dr
Angawi. After its discovery, King Fahd ordered that it be bulldozed
before
it could become a pilgrimage site.
"The bulldozer is there and they take only two hours to destroy
everything.
It has no sensitivity to history. It digs down to the bedrock and then the
concrete is poured in," he said.
Similarly, finds by a Lebanese professor, Kamal Salibi, which
indicated that
once-Jewish villages in what is now Saudi Arabia might have been the
location of scenes from the Bible, prompted the bulldozers to be sent
in.
All traces were destroyed.
This depressing pattern of excavation and demolition has led Dr
Angawi and
his colleagues to keep secret a number of locations in the holy cities
that
could date back as far as the time of Abraham.
The ruling House of Saud has been bound to Wahhabism since the
religious
reformer Mohamed Ibn abdul-Wahab signed a pact with Mohammed
bin Saud in
1744. The combination of the al-Saud clan and Wahhab's warrior
zealots
became the foundation of the modern state. The House of Saud
received its
wealth and power and the hardline clerics got the state backing that
would
enable them in the decades to come to promote their Wahhabist
ideology
across the globe.
On the tailcoats of the religious zealots have come commercial
developers
keen to fill the historic void left by demolitions with lucrative
high-rises.
"The man-made history of Mecca has gone and now the Mecca that
God made is
going as well." Says Dr Angawi. "The projects that are coming up are
going
to finish them historically, architecturally and environmentally," he said.
With the annual pilgrimage expected to increase five-fold to 20 million
in
the coming years as Saudi authorities relax entry controls, estate
agencies
are seeing a chance to cash in on huge demand for accommodation.
"The infrastructure at the moment cannot cope. New hotels, apartments
and
services are badly needed," the director of a leading Saudi estate
agency
told Reuters.
Despite an estimated $13bn in development cash currently washing
around
Mecca, Saudi sceptics dismiss the developers' argument. "The
service of
pilgrims is not the goal really," says Mr Ahmed. "If they were
concerned for
the pilgrims, they would have built a railroad between Mecca and
Jeddah, and
Mecca and Medina. They are removing any historical landmark that is
not
Saudi-Wahhabi, and using the prime location to make money," he
says.
Dominating these new developments is the Jabal Omar scheme which
will
feature two 50-storey hotel towers and seven 35-storey apartment
blocks --
all within a stone's throw of the Grand Mosque.
Dr Angawi said: "Mecca should be the reflection of the multicultural
Muslim
world, not a concrete parking lot."
Whereas proposals for high-rise developments in Jerusalem have
prompted a
worldwide outcry and the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan
buddhas was
condemned by Unicef, Mecca's busy bulldozers have barely raised a
whisper of
protest.
"The house where the Prophet received the word of God is gone and
nobody
cares," says Dr Angawi. "I don't want trouble. I just want this to stop."