August 06, 2012
The Architects of the War on Islam
This is addressed to Muslims who think that Islam is under attack: They are right. Just take a look at the images of the House that Abraham built, the Ka’aba and see how progresses that ancient attack. Just look at the transformation of the environs of the Ka’aba and the Haram Shareef into a garish resort rivaling Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Just look, at the transformation of the sacred environs of the Haram Shareef into a shopping mall and Disney world--to understand the war on Islam and who is responsible for waging it. Just look at this and see how Islam has been trafficked as though it were a bonded slave, dressed up in bells and baubles to be whipped and sold in the marketplace. Who is it, Muslims should ask themselves, who has undertaken to do this and has destroyed and defaced the symbols, the reminders, the graves, the homes of the Prophet and his family? And is this okay with them that this should happen to their most revered place of worship? This Ramzan Muslims should reflect on the image of the “renovations” in Mecca around the Ka’aba and the Haram Shareef and ask themselves about the war on Islam.
Yes there is a war on Islam. The responsibility for this destruction lies with the House of Saud. This war on Islam continues and has been waged from the birth of Islam 15 centuries ago. And it has been strengthened in the last century thanks to oil. The Saudi so called royal family of 5000 persons and its grantees of oil wealth and its courtiers, princes, princesses, sheikhs and sheikhas—all of them, barring none-- have done their utmost to insult, humiliate and destroy the religious belief systems of 1.2 billion Muslims and their holiest of shrines.
The Saud are not from Hejaz. Yet they claim as a birth right their custodianship of Islam itself. The birthplace of the Prophet and Islam is Mecca. The cities of Mecca and Medina are in Hejaz.
The Saud are not from Al Ahsa (here). Yet, the Saud’s wealth comes from oil in the province of Al Ahsa. Ever since they have gained ownership of the entire Arabian peninsula and the oil, thanks to the British in the early 20th century, and to the Americans, they have succeeded, fourteen centuries after the Prophet's death in restoring their gods to Mecca. And they have also financed militaries and security apparatuses that keep their hold on the oil secured. The majority population of Muslims in Al Ahsa where the oil is located do not share the traditions of Saud they are Shi’a.
The Saud, are from Najd. The Saud are from the Banu Hanafi tribe which is one of eight or ten major tribes in the Najd. The word Najd means highlands. The Najd has a harsh climate and it was mostly barren and isolated at the time of the Prophet and till 1932 when the fortunes of the Saud changed. Riyadh was the largest settlement in Najd which after 1932 was declared the capital of Saudi Arabia by the Saud who became its rulers. Most tribes there were nomadic and even those that became sedentary originally were nomadic. Harsh terrain and a harsh climate made the nomadic way of life one that was focused on survival of all the animals in the flock including humans. The rules and laws of the tribes were therefore in harsh adherence to the purpose of survival and procreation. Men, women, goats, sheep, cows and camels were equally tattooed, covered, circumcised, birthed culled, cut and slaughtered as was seen fit to keep the tribe strong and safe from the harsh life. Following a leader was critical. Dissent could mean a wrong decision and endangering the entire tribe. To question the tribal leader’s judgment could mean leading the tribe into peril, away from water or straight into the path of disaster. Dissent had to therefore be harshly and swiftly and publically punished for the sake of survival. Insular behavior was rewarded and risk taking was not.
Because of their isolation, the tribes of Najd spoke dialects particular to their own tribes, an Arabic not influenced by elsewhere in Arabia and therefore with variations from the Arabic spoken for example in Hejaz. Each tribe spoke and understood its dialect of Arabic. The written word was a luxury of Hejaz and its cities. The tribes from Najd, once a year ventured into Mecca with their livestock for the annual event which was primarily a livestock market and for the pilgrimage to their gods at the Ka’aba.
The Saud can claim no other cultural or human achievement except surviving in the cruel rocky barren mountainous terrain and giving sanctuary to Al Wahab in the 18th century and his ideals called Wahabism. The Saud’s kingdom of Saudi Arabia created in 1932 at the time that oil was discovered in Bahrain and Al Ahsa is based on these Wahabi ideals. They also had an admirable knack for expediency, which foolishly, was referred to as hypocrisy, by revolutionaries or idealists to their own peril. These tribes of the Najd only made alliances when it became expedient for them to do so. They agreed to an alliance with Mohammad but not allegiance to him or to Islam.
The Saud have held the Haram Shareef hostage. Just look at how it has been transformed by them. The Saud’s alliances and allegiances to themselves and their belief systems is evidenced amongst other things by their treatment of the Ka’aba. The Ka’aba today seems as though it were a project of revenge of avenging their own family’s ancestors for the humiliation they felt when the Prophet more than 1400 years ago returned victorious from his exile in Medina, into Mecca and went straight into the Ka’aba and destroyed their stone idols, their Gods, which they adored. Today, it seems that they the Saud are embarked on the project of destroying what the Prophet did.
The Saud are from the place from where the Prophet at the birth of Islam faced continuous opposition. It was from Najd that Islam faced its greatest threat. Islam’s history is replete with references to this opposition to Islam from Najd. The Koran itself has references to this opposition and disbelief: the chapter “Repentance” refers to them: “The village Arabs are more obstinate in disbelief and hypocrisy and impervious to ordinances revealed to His Apostle by God; yet God is aware of everything and is wise.” and “Some of these rustics take whatever they spend in the way of God as a penalty, and wait for an adverse turn in your (addressed to the Prophet) fortune.”
There are four shahria interpreters in the Sunni sects Imam Hanafi, Imam Shafaee, Maliki and Humbali. In a hadith or saying of the Prophet quoted by Imam Maliki : Abdullah ibn Umar Radi Allahu anhu said, “ I saw the Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta’ala ‘alayhi wa Sallam pointing at the east ( Najd) and saying, ‘The cause of dissension is here. The cause of dissension is here, from where the helpers of shaytan arise.’ (Imam Malik’s: Muwatta, Hadith #54.11.29). The Hadith or the saying about the Najd (here) Also other hadith quoted here. Muslim scholars Sunni and Shi’a would be united on the veracity of this saying of the Prophet.
Muslims should question themselves as to how could an isolated tribe from a region historically opposed to Islam rise to power and take control of Ka'aba and Islam. Muslims should question themselves about the relationship between this rise and the discovery of oil in Hejaz in 1932. When was Saudi Arabia created? 1932. And when did Wahibism begin to rise from a belief in a nowhere land mountain range in Arabia to spread across the globe? 1932. Muslims should ask themselves who are these custodians of the Ka’aba and what right do they have to occupy it and to have absolute and total control and ownership over it in the way that they do? Who gives them legitimacy and who enforces that legitimacy? Who protects them and secures them? Who benefits? Who loses? Where is the oil located in the Saudi peninsula? Why is the Arabian peninsula called Saudi Arabia? How and why was the name of the clan of Saud given to an entire region in 1932? A region whose majority population and sub regions have nothing to do with the tribe or clan of Saud? Those who never accepted Islam are now the custodians of it. Those who never accepted Islam now claim to be the founders, the definers the protectors of it! Those who are now poised to destroy Islam and all symbols of its origins and humanity are the custodians, the kidnappers and hostage takers of the Ka’aba itself. It is they, the House of Saud that has taken Islam hostage, it is they who have buried Islam, up to its neck in mud and it is they who stone it to death with their actions, policies and ideology and it is they who are poised with the gleaming sword of their emblem to behead it.
Muslims should take a look at the symbols in the architecture that now looms over the Ka’aba. The architecture of the Haram Shareef which had evoked an invitation to the expansion of thought and a moderation of need that had beckoned a charity in spirit and freed an abundance of emotions, that was cooling to the eyes and calming for the soul that planted the seed of hope in the heart of those that knelt or walked with in its precincts, that kindled a sense of a beginning, a contentment of resolve—that led to an elegance and simplicity of manner, has now become a monument to the Saud, an expression of their character.
Thanks to the Saud a reversal of Islam is underway: Now a hideous clock tower, garish shopping malls for the rich, and equally vulgar billboards and skyscraper hotels for the wealthy dwarf the Ka’aba and its sanctity. Muslims should ask themselves how it could be possible that public toilets have been built where the house of Hazrat Kadija the wife of the Prophet Mohammad used to be. How is it possible that the graves of the Prophet’s family have been razed to the ground? This has been done in the name of adhering to a pure Islam? It has nothing to do with Islam, the faith of the Prophet Mohammad.
Modern Mecca: The Transformation of a Holy City, described in this article by Basharat Peer in The New Yorker, the clock tower looms like a one eyed Jinn (here). Or like a stone idol in the shape of a clock tower—whose face is in the shape of a moon or the sun—and inscribed as though on the forehead of its face is the word Allah, the face is encircled by stars. Allah, the moon, the sun and stars. Allah, Laat, Manat and Uzza. There they are in the shape of the clock tower--the return of the stone Gods revered by the ancestors of the current bunch, the current custodians of the Ka’aba. The stone gods, the ones that Mohammad shattered upon his triumphant return to Mecca from Medina—now they have been resurrected after 1400 years from crumbled sand restored bigger, better, more garishly thanks to oil and its power.
The Sauds' power of petrodollars has spread the insidious venom of hatred for the teachings of Mohammad from Riyadh to Washington DC to Mindanao from Jakarta to Aguelhok. It is they, the hereditary enemies of Mohammad’s Islam who are the current custodians of the Ka’aba. It is clear in all their actions—of violence, and immorality and greed and debauchery that it is they who have never accepted Islam. It is their brand of beliefs which espouses the subjugation, humiliation and torture of women, the destruction of monotheistic and Abrahamic spirituality, the adherence to monarchy, hatred of the vulnerable and poor, extreme inequality of humans and the worship of money. A reading of historical references including the Koran show that from Najd, from where the Saud originate, there has always been an animosity a fissure, mischief making and diversion with the Prophet and his faith and it is they who have from the time of the Prophet sought to destroy the faith that the Prophet Mohammad had sprung on them.
The Saud have financed much destruction of Islam and its shrines and now their target is closing in on the shrine in Damascus of the revered lady, Hazrat Zainab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad. Is it to become a “casualty” of their civil war? Is the shrine about to face the same fate as the destruction of the holy shrines across the globe funded by Saudi petro dollars? The shrine is threatened and in danger of being destroyed much like other shrines, by the same venom that holds the Ka’aba hostage and has defaced it.
This great animosity of the United States towards Iran, is it Israel inspired? Is it because of an affinity to Israel? Or is it because of the Saud and oil? Not the oil in Iran but the oil in the Ghawar Fields in Saudi Arabia. For the Americans it may be about oil. Keeping the ownership of the oil in the hands of the Saud and protecting them is greased by funding their belief system. The images of US Presidents one after another arm in arm or holding hands with, or kissing the cheeks of and bending over the hands of Saudi Kings, as if pledging allegiance, are instructive.
The Saud must be admired for strategic thinking and entrepreneurial expediency. They are not from Hejaz which is the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammad and Islam. The Saud are not from Al Ahsa where the richest oil fields on earth are located. The Saud are from Najd from where during the time of the Prophet and his four Caliphs there was a constant opposition to Islam. Now in the twenty first century the Saud, the architects of war on Islam seem to be poised for victory on the House of Abraham, the house of the Prophet Mohammad.
Other Writings by Maniza Naqvi:
The Middle Way, the Difficult Way—Sharper than a Sword and Narrower than a Hair
A Matter of Detail: The Masonry of Graffiti and Symbols
The Kreutzer Sonata in Addis Ababa
Battle Songs: These Children Can’t Be Bought
Hitched In History to Crimes Against Humanity
Imagining Lyari Through Akhtar Soomro
Rimbaud and Insider Information on Disasters Foretold
Expressing Fidelity Through Sorrow's Hope
Losing the Plot: Habits of the Heart (Complete Novel)
The Art of Resistance: Under Siege
The Leftist And The Leader (A Play)
Posted by Maniza Naqvi at 12:25 AM | Permalink
Comments
This a great read thank for sharing you knowledge
Posted by: adam | Aug 6, 2012 11:08:13 AM
The enemy of my enemy is my friend (at least for a while).
Posted by: Dave Ranningdd | Aug 6, 2012 11:31:32 AM
Not bad as propaganda, but I hope no one reads this as history. A region historically opposed to Islam? really?
The Saudis are a pestilential influence, but their Islam is closer to orthodox Sunni beliefs than the author would like to believe. And orthodox Sunni beliefs have remained the dominant form of Islam for 1400 years. That doesnt mean they are superior to Shia beliefs or any other version of Islam, and I can fully understand the needs of propaganda, but again, readers who still have trouble figuring out who the Sikhs are, may mistake an intra-religious polemic for history. With due apologies, I did want to point that out.
Posted by: omar | Aug 6, 2012 12:41:13 PM
This is a remarkable article, not only for what it protests against, the garishness of the architecture surrounding the Kabbah, but for the rhetorical fervour and takfir'ing it expresses itself. It suggests to me that there is in the source code of Islam something that is essentially a kind of isotope to produce a never ending energy of strife, tribal outrage, sectarian accusation, lamentation of evil betrayal, even in the nominally most moderate kind of Muslim voice.
If our religion glorifies how its founder smashed the idols of those whose religions he disagreed with, then we have holy destruction hard wired into us, and this intolerance and will-to-usurp has holy sanction.
If we are swirling around in a pool of resentments over the tribal battles of warlords from 7th century Arabia in the year 2012, and this animates our worldview, its not just the House of Saud that keeps us backwards.
As I said, a remarkable piece, made remarkable by the blind spots and takfir energy of the author, as much as the outline it presents of Mecca as Las Vegas.
Posted by: billoislove | Aug 6, 2012 1:02:42 PM
And just to add, it really is disturbing that the Kaaba could be treated like this. Can you imagine any other religion allowing its most sacred site to be overwhelmed with such garish, vulgar, diminishing architecture?
Posted by: billoislove | Aug 6, 2012 1:06:58 PM
LOL, Billo, this is a liberal blog. I am sure the author will not be happy being called "takfiri".
More to the point, approach from a postmodern angle...more likely to work.
Posted by: omar | Aug 6, 2012 1:11:02 PM
@Billoislove: I agree with you: "If our religion glorifies how its founder smashed the idols of those whose religions he disagreed with, then we have holy destruction hard wired into us, and this intolerance and will-to-usurp has holy sanction. If we are swirling around in a pool of resentments over the tribal battles of warlords from 7th century Arabia in the year 2012, and this animates our worldview, its not just the House of Saud that keeps us backwards."
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 6, 2012 1:16:14 PM
Omar, its the takfir of the underdog. The liberal's takfir the Saudis, the Wahabis, the Salafis, and even in this case the entire tribes of Najd, accusing them no less of being motivated by a desire to take revenge against Muhammad in the present day for his smashing of their idols. Its a veritable whirlwind of it.
The only problem with liberals who takfir is that you can never win against the truly big guys. This is the eternal dilemma of liberal Muslims. You go back to the Sunnah, Quran, and prepare yourself to takfir the 'extremists' who 'twisted' the 'pure' Islam, only to find them waiting for you, armed with a gigantic sword and a gun pointing at you. And they takfir not in progressive blogs and bourgeois salons, but in the real world, with real consequences.
Posted by: billoislove (@billoislove) | Aug 6, 2012 2:09:31 PM
And they takfir not in progressive blogs and bourgeois salons, but in the real world, with real consequences.
Too much reality and reason for me.
How about that religion of love, with a book written by the like of Ike Turner.
Posted by: Dave Ranningdd | Aug 6, 2012 3:26:53 PM
i thought i'd seen this elsewhere and was wondering about plagiarism, when the author mentioned the recent NYer article. that article raises many of these same questions through a different rhetorical tack, and is well worth reading. the absence of sentimentality here (unlike the NYer piece) is bracing and refreshing -- and more exciting to read.
Posted by: ed rackley | Aug 6, 2012 5:00:46 PM
I'm the last person to have nice things to say about the Saudis, but if 2 million people come together to march around the Ka'aba, shouldn't they be provided with toilets? Is Mecca "purer" with toilets or without? And what exactly is wrong with a little shopping after prayer? The Catholic holy sites are full of trinket vendors, its part of the fun. emptore est orare (or something like that). I have no time for the "I'm purer than you are" game, better to live a little.
Posted by: aguy109 | Aug 6, 2012 5:52:07 PM
And I thought that religion brings us together - teaches us to love family, neighbors, and strangers. Perhaps it's just the opposite, a divisive invention perhaps without peer in longevity if not intensity.
Posted by: yakinsea | Aug 6, 2012 11:20:37 PM
The systematic destruction of Islamic heritage sites is central to Wahhabism and Saudi state policy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_early_Islamic_heritage_sites
Destroyed sites:
Mosques:
The mosque at the grave of Sayyid al-Shuhada’ Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib
The Mosque of Fatima Zahra.
The Mosque of al-Manaratain
Mosque and tomb of Sayyid Imam al-Uraidhi ibn Ja‘far al-Sadiq, destroyed by dynamite on August 13, 2002.
Four mosques at the site of the Battle of the Trench in Medina.
The Mosque of Abu Rasheed.
Salman al-Farsi Mosque, in Medina.
Raj'at ash-Shams Mosque, in Medina.
Cemeteries and tombs:
Jannat al-Baqi in Medina, completely leveled.
Jannat al-Mu'alla, the ancient cemetery at Mecca
Grave of Hamida al-Barbariyya, the mother of Imam Musa al-Kazim.
Grave of Amina bint Wahb, Muhammad’s mother, bulldozed and set alight in 1998.
Graves of Banu Hashim in Mecca
Tombs of Hamza and other martyrs were demolished at Uhud
Tomb of Eve in Jeddah,sealed with concrete in 1975.
Grave of the father of Muhammad, in Medina
Historical religious sites:
The house of Mawlid where Muhammad is believed to have been born in 570. Originally turned into a cattle market, it now lies under a rundown building which was built 70 years ago as a compromise after Wahhabi clerics called for it to be torn down.
The house of Khadija, Muhammad’s first wife. Muslims believe he received some of the first revelations there. It was also where his children Fatimah and Qasim were born. After it was rediscovered during the Haram extensions in 1989, it was covered over and it was made into a library.
House of Muhammed in Medina, where he lived after the migration from Mecca
Dar al Arqam, the first Islamic school where Muhammad taught. It now lies under the extension of the Masjid Al Nabawi of Madinah.
Qubbat’ al-Thanaya, the burial site of Muhammed's incisor that was broken in the Battle of Uhud.
Mashrubat Umm Ibrahim, built to mark the location of the house where Muhammad’s son, Ibrahim, was born to Mariah.
Dome which served as a canopy over the Well of Zamzam.
Bayt al-Ahzan of Sayyida Fatima, in Medina
House of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, in Medina
Mahhalla complex of Banu Hashim, in Medina.
House of Ali where Hasan and Husayn were born
Under Threat:
Bayt al-Mawlid:
When the Wahabis took Mecca in the 1920s they destroyed the dome on top of the house where the Prophet Mohammed was born. It was then used as a cattle market before being turned into a library after a campaign by Meccans. There are concerns that the expansion of the Grand Mosque will destroy it once more. The site has never been excavated by archaeologists.
Ottoman and Abbasi columns of the Masjid al-Haram
Slated for demolition as part of the Grand Mosque expansion, these intricately carved columns date back to the 17th century and are the oldest surviving sections of Islam's holiest site. Much to the chagrin of Wahabis, they are inscribed with the names of the Prophet's companions. Ottomon Mecca is now rapidly disappearing
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi:
For many years, hardline Wahabi clerics have had their sights set on the 15th century green dome that rests above the tomb holding the Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar in Medina. The mosque is regarded as the second holiest site in Islam. Wahabis, however, believe marked graves are idolatrous. A pamphlet published in 2007 by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, endorsed by Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, stated that "the green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Masjid"
Jabal al-Nour:
A mountain outside Mecca where Mohammed received his first Koranic revelations. The Prophet used to spend long spells in a cave called Hira. The cave is particularly popular among South Asian pilgrims who have carved steps up to its entrance and adorned the walls with graffiti. Religious hardliners are keen to dissuade pilgrims from congregating there and have mooted the idea of removing the steps and even destroying the mountain altogether.
Posted by: Raza | Aug 7, 2012 12:12:59 AM
Remember the Golden Rule:
He who has the gold makes the rules.
Deal with it.
Posted by: mr.ed | Aug 7, 2012 5:24:09 AM
I totally subscribe to the view of the author minus the spite and venom, perhaps vented out in sheer anger and frustration. Having performed Hajj last year, I could not help but appreciate the Saudi service, facilitation and dedication. It was truly commendable. The clock tower maybe an ugly piece but reference to Laat and Mannat is out of place. Having said that, the desecration of sacred sites and eroding of all history under the misconceived notion of Biddat is barbaric, criminal and most unfortunate. If nothing else, as the present custodians, they ought to be sensitive to opposing muslim sentiments outnumbering theirs in far great a number.
Posted by: Hfeez | Aug 7, 2012 7:34:55 AM
The strange thing about this essay is it totally could have been written by Osama bin Laden.
I agree with omar - this is a sectarian creed against Wahhabism (who completely deserve this and more), but I've met plenty of non-Wahhabis who buy into purity and dislike veneration of tombs and they are all Sunnis, which is the dominant stream of Islam. I think there is some of the Saudi feeling in many Sunnis the world over. And the Wahhabis are in a mad rush to build it up and foster it.
Posted by: Hektor bim | Aug 7, 2012 10:49:06 AM
Dear Maniza,
Did I not warn you to brace yourself for being accused of expressing the view of Osama Bin Laden. To call out absolute evil, is to be condemened to being accused of evil. I suppose congratulations are in order.
Posted by: GeorgeOrwell | Aug 7, 2012 11:54:48 AM
Just to reiterate, my problem is only with the possibility that this article may be read as history by some people. Otherwise, go for it. The Saudis have enough money, they should be able to handle this like big boys.
btw, in that list of demolished tombs from Raza, i notice that Eve died in Jeddah. I thought she died in Sri-Lanka? (Malangs in Punjab have told me, honest, that she and Adam died in Punjab). Just saying.
Posted by: omar | Aug 7, 2012 1:03:39 PM
I mentioned Aguelhok in Mali: Here is an article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19053442
And the historical mosque and shrines in Timbaktu, Mali:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18870130
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 7, 2012 1:57:37 PM
@Omar
"Traditionally, the final resting place of Eve is said to be the "Tomb of Eve" in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve
"The site was sealed with concrete by the religious authorities in 1975 as a result of pilgrims praying at the tomb."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Eve
Posted by: Raza | Aug 7, 2012 2:00:17 PM
@Omar: Even the city is named after Eve.
" The more common account has it that the name is derived from جدة Jaddah, the Arabic word for "grandmother". According to eastern folk belief, the tomb of Eve (21°29′31″N 39°11′24″E), considered the grandmother of humanity, is located in Jeddah.[4] The Tomb was sealed with concrete by the religious authorities in 1975 as a result of some Muslims praying at the site."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeddah
Posted by: Raza | Aug 7, 2012 2:13:38 PM
LOL. I am not buying it. Who built her tomb? Cain?
btw, I am not defending Saudi Barbaria by any means. If there is an old house that the locals use to scam tourists and refer to as "eve's tomb", it deserves protection like any other old building that has artistic, historical or cultural value. Value can be assigned even when authenticity is VERY SERIOUSLY in question. I was just being pedantic because people come up with these "facts" all the time; "Mecca, where Ibrahim did X". Oh well.
Posted by: omar | Aug 7, 2012 4:02:37 PM
Children of Iblees are Wahabis. They are funding every insurgency and fasaad from Nigeria to Syria,Iraq,Afganistan, Pakistan and many more . It is the most disgusting country i have visited. Yes the clock tower is there symbol of being Dajal-e-Akbar.
Posted by: Nasreen R | Aug 7, 2012 4:28:55 PM
My other comment on this is that it makes it sound like the worst thing the Saudis have done is destroy tombs. Surely there are a litany of things we can criticize the Saudis for, and destruction of tombs is way down the list. Consider the inhumanity they display toward people, including their own citizens, just for starters.
Maybe that angle is one Maniza thinks can be appreciated by Muslims around the world, but that isn't clear to me. It feels like many Muslims are iconoclasts, and sometimes virulent iconoclasts, even if they aren't Wahhabis.
Posted by: Hektor bim | Aug 7, 2012 4:46:36 PM
Hektor, Maniza herself admires the iconoclasm of the holy prophet (pbuh). See article for details. She is upset that the Saudis have RE-ERECTED stone idols that the prophet (pbuh) had destroyed.
Posted by: omar | Aug 7, 2012 4:54:54 PM
Omar,
But she's upset about the destruction of Shiite tombs, right? So she likes some iconoclasm and not others? How am I supposed to be convinced of Wahhabi perfidy on the basis of conditional iconoclasm?
I really don't get it. It's like getting Al Capone of tax evasion when his other crimes were so much more serious.
Posted by: Hektor Bim | Aug 7, 2012 9:25:10 PM
The writer is a typical clueless, educated, modern Muslim high on platitudes and deficient when it comes to facts and documented history.
Posted by: ahmed | Aug 7, 2012 10:10:13 PM
Amusing, this Omar and Hektor.
Posted by: GeorgeOrwell | Aug 8, 2012 12:14:05 AM
George,
Glad you are enjoying yourself.
Posted by: Hektor bim | Aug 8, 2012 8:32:38 AM
btw, as all Western educated Muslims seem to know for a fact, the holy prophet (Pbuh) smashed 360 idols in the Kaaba and ordered the destruction of the shrines of Laat, Manat and Uzza (at one of which orders were specifically issued to kill the female priestess who insulted the one true God in those premises..a feat duly performed, if I remember correctly, by Khalid Bin Waleed). If this "protection of cultural artifacts and the tomb of Hazrat EVE" business is taken too far, one day the filthy Kuffar are bound to start objecting to those acts as "cultural vandalism". Just saying.
Posted by: omar | Aug 8, 2012 9:56:13 AM
Why do you hold back, pull your punches?
This is an incredibly informed and courageous piece. And I'm sure will generate much hostile response. It's more sophisticated than my description of the House of Saud as gas station attendants for British and U.S. imperialism, but makes the point. Also notable that the 911 attack came not from Iraq or Iranian Shi'ias or Syrian Allawites but from Saudi Wahabis. The Saudis are in fact creatures of imperialism, and as elsewhere, religion is merely one more weapon in an arsenal of domination, occupation and exploitation. What I continue to appreciate is how much I learn from each of your articles. I note that other commentators are debating the accuracy of your history. Whatever the verdict on those charges, the piece certainly points to deeper historical issues: the kinds of gods and rituals and theologies humans create to advance their very material interests. Religious conflicts, it seems, are about power and control and are, at root, real estate wars.
Posted by: Brian | Aug 8, 2012 4:19:54 PM
Strong. Strong and True.
Posted by: shn | Aug 9, 2012 6:39:20 PM
An interesting piece but contains the usual anti sunni/wahabi-pro shia stuff. The fact is that the saudis are powerful enough to have taken over the region whether we like it or not. They are not my favourites but they call the shots.
Destroying historical sites is a crime in my opinion and they are afraid of losing their power if they allow all those monuments.
Just saying (like omar! I tend to agree with him mostly!)
Posted by: skeptic | Aug 11, 2012 3:51:32 AM
How true : "The source code of Islam something that is essentially a kind of isotope to produce a never ending energy of strife, tribal outrage, sectarian accusation, lamentation of evil betrayal, even in the nominally most moderate kind of Muslim voice.
If our religion glorifies how its founder smashed the idols of those whose religions he disagreed with, then we have holy destruction hard wired into us, and this intolerance and will-to-usurp has holy sanction.
If we are swirling around in a pool of resentments over the tribal battles of warlords from 7th century Arabia in the year 2012, and this animates our worldview, its not just the House of Saud that keeps us backwards."
Posted by: skeptic | Aug 11, 2012 4:02:53 AM
Skeptic,
Please kindly point out those sentences which support your assertions. Which sentences go against your understanding of what is going on. Kindly also point out the anti Sunni sentiment that you find in this article.
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 11, 2012 10:33:51 AM
Omar, It goes without saying that the story of Adam and Eve, their tombs and all that are folklore and when you mock it you're are the one who is taking it seriously. You may as well mock Santa Claus and expect to be taken seriously.
The equivalence between smashing idols and smashing tombs while true but it is not relevant as the two events are 1400 years apart. You may as well argue that human sacrifices should be acceptable today because it once was.
So whether it is Eve's tomb or Buddha's statues in Bamiyan, civilized people do not destroy their heritage, unless they are doing it purposely, which I believe was Maniza's point. Oh well!
Posted by: Raza | Aug 11, 2012 3:51:40 PM
My pointy was that admiring one set of cultural vandals and using them as a rhetorical device to attack another set (a set that takes inspiration from set one) is rather strange. But, whatever works. Dont get me wrong. I actually dont have any problem with the fact that Maniza produced some anti-saudi propaganda. More the merrier.
Posted by: omar | Aug 11, 2012 8:27:15 PM
Omar: "I actually dont have any problem with the fact that Maniza produced some anti-saudi propaganda"
When you call it "propaganda" means that you do have a problem with her article. Just sayin!
Posted by: Raza | Aug 11, 2012 9:05:34 PM
Raza, there is nothing wrong with propaganda. A lot of what is written in blogs and magazines IS propaganda and why not? Obviously its not "objective history" (whatever THAT is)..
Posted by: omar | Aug 12, 2012 1:17:37 AM
Dear Maniza. Notwithstanding some sectarian bias, your article reflects a rare display of moral courage--for a Muslim woman to speak out against the profound loss of a heritage that belongs to all mankind, and not just the Muslims.
On a visit to perform Umra,I saw the razing and leveling of the historic hills around the Holy Kaaba to make way for broader roads to service the formidable hotel and shopping towers overlooking the Kaaba. This is tantamount to desecration -- although from a utilitarian standpoint, a facile justification can be advanced that it facilitates the transit of millions of pilgrims that visit Makkah every year.
But this is a heartless and a mindless explanation that cannot justify obliterating the sites and landmarks dear to hundreds of millions of Muslim believers around the world.
Wonder why UNESCO and Islamic cultural institutions around the world remain silent at this pillage of Islamic heritage. And why the millions of Muslims who perform Hajj and Umra each year, and the governments that represent them, not raise their voice to protect and preserve their common heritage.
Or can it be that the devotion and fervor that Muslims feel on viewing the Kaaba makes them oblivious of the palisades of concrete, steel and glass and a garish clock tower that now surround it? It was only after performing Umra and leaving Makkah did I realize what had been irretrievably lost-- a landscape that had the imprints of the birth and rise of Islam.
Posted by: Witness | Aug 13, 2012 7:07:09 PM
Witness,
Thank you. You raise an important point.Why hasn't UNESCO raised any concerns?
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 13, 2012 7:37:36 PM
Interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbbJCIMfsd4
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 16, 2012 5:10:36 PM
Facts are facts, no matter who is presenting them. The history is right, and unfortunately so seems the politics. The US-Saudi alliance has been central to a lot of damage in this part of the world, but seems to be in its twilight now. I think you have been diplomatic in this article, no need to be; cannot condone oppression, which is what the House of Saud stands for today.
Posted by: Adeel | Aug 18, 2012 4:25:55 PM
The House of Saud is indeed the offspring of Satan.
Posted by: Anjum Hameed | Aug 19, 2012 2:32:38 AM
Mr Omar and Mr. Bim,
Look here is another sectarian two weeks later:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/opinion/dont-fear-all-islamists-fear-salafis.html
Posted by: shn | Aug 20, 2012 11:49:16 AM
This news today about the vandalism of Shrines in Libya:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/world/africa/in-libya-extremists-vandalize-sufi-shrines-with-impunity.html?_r=1&ref=world
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 29, 2012 11:43:32 AM
All this weeping and gnashing of teeth by Muslims upset about Saudi religious vandalism sounds deliciously ironic to an Indian ear.
I don't think the author realizes how hypocritical it all sounds.
Posted by: Sundar | Aug 29, 2012 1:36:18 PM
This article made me curious about"Abraj Al Bait Towers"
Architecture James S. Russell writes:: "The appalling Abraj Al Bait Towers loom 1,972 lugubrious feet over the sacred precinct of the Grand Mosque of Mecca. Some addled soul at Dar Al-Handasah architects cribbed the bellicose classicism of Stalin-era Socialist Realism, then crowned the 95- story central tower with a 140-foot-diameter clock face imitating London’s Big Ben.... I predict Saudis will come to their senses and implode this insult within a generation."
Some interesting pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_kramer/galleries/72157627940174432/
Posted by: Sundar | Aug 31, 2012 11:23:28 AM
Sundar, Among the proles and the nouveau riche, the horror is not that obvious (I am sure there is some resentment of rich people getting to stay in luxury close to the harem while the proles are camped further out in less luxurious surroundings, but the aesthetic horror is by no means universal). The great mosque has actually been rebuilt and enlarged to ten times its pre-Saudi size and facilities in general (toilets, walkways, so on) greatly improved. Most ordinary Muslims (as opposed to Westernized elite liberals, cough, cough) are more likely to praise the Saudi efforts in Mecca. I have personally met some who proudly related the fact that the largest clock in the world is now in Mecca (I still get emails from Pakistani friends saying the same)...which does expose the fact that that I may be hanging out beyond the rarefied elite circle where "everyone" understands what a monstrosity this is.
Just saying.
Not that it will appease people who are already accusing me of Wahabi sympathies, but I am not a supporter of the Al-Saud and I do like to think that a less commercial and more arduous pilgrimage would be more attractive to me (e.g. the trek to Kailash, which remains a dream for me, though I am sure there are Chinese hawkers selling plastic models out there by now).
If so, why am i interfering in a perfectly good piece of anti-Saudi propaganda?
I think the sectarian parts add nothing to the argument. And religious arguments against religious vandalism? why bother?
But probably I am just contrarian enough by nature to not be able to help it.
As any saudi would say "allah alone knows whats true".
Posted by: omar | Aug 31, 2012 3:00:42 PM
@Omar, I see your point...
Posted by: Sundar | Aug 31, 2012 7:04:31 PM
Sundar,
Thanks for the reference. I will add it into the piece.
Posted by: Maniza | Aug 31, 2012 7:21:40 PM
The destruction of the holy sites by the deviant Saudis in power,
by Ustadh Muqallid Abdul Haqq Al-Amreeki
Dear Maulana, this article I have typed based on my own feelings at seeing the structures designed in Mecca. May Allah give you the tawfiq to accomplish your goals in both this doonya and the akheera.
Bismillah hir Rahman ir Raheem,
It was with much horror that I first viewed the giant All seeing-eye horror occult megalith constructed in the holiest and most sacred site on planet earth
“A glowing green disc hovers high in the sky at night, casting an eerie glow over a forest of minarets, cranes and concrete frames that seem to stretch endlessly into the dusty distance, like a vast field of dominoes. The disc is the largest clockface in the world – and not only does it adorn the tallest clocktower in the world, it also sits atop a building boasting the biggest floor area in the world. Visible 30km away, this is the Abraj al-Bait, which rises like Big Ben on steroids to tower 600m over the holy mosque of Mecca in the spiritual heart of the Islamic world.
This thrusting pastiche palace houses an array of luxury hotels and apartments, perched above a five-storey slab of shopping malls. Completed last year at a cost of $15bn (£9bn), it stands where an Ottoman fortress once stood. A stone citadel built in 1781 to repel bandits, the Ajyad fortress’s demolition sparked an international outcry in 2002, but this was quickly rebuffed by the Saudi Islamic affairs minister. “No one has the right to interfere in what comes under the state’s authority,” he said. “This development is in the interest of all Muslims all over the world.” The fortress wasn’t just swept away – the hill it sat on went, too.
Shooting 26 searchlights 10km into the skies, and blaring its call to prayer 7km across the valley, the Abraj al-Bait is also the world’s second tallest building. Encrusted with mosaics and inlaid with gold, it is the most visible (and audible) sign of the frenzied building boom that has taken hold of Saudi Arabia’s holy city over the last 10 years. The house of the prophet’s wife, Khadijah, was razed to make way for public lavatories; the house of his companion, Abu Bakr, is now the site of a Hilton hotel; and his grandson’s house was flattened by the King’s palace. “They are turning the holy sanctuary into a machine, a city which has no identity, no heritage, no culture and no natural environment. They’ve even taken away the mountains,” says Angawi.
Geological features have proved no match for dynamite and concrete, which are being liberally deployed to make way for the burgeoning number of visitors. Three million Muslims arrived in Mecca this week for the annual hajj pilgrimage, an event that has mutated from a simple, spartan rite of passage, in which pilgrims give up their worldly goods, into a big-bucks business worthy of Las Vegas – with the overblown architecture to match.
Along the western flank of the city are the first towers of the Jabal Omar development, a sprawling complex that will eventually accommodate 100,000 people in 26 luxury hotels (notice how the number 26 is used by the Occultists on both the lights and the buildings– comments of Ustadh Abdul Haqq)– sitting on another gargantuan plinth of 4,000 shops and 500 restaurants, along with its own six-storey prayer hall. The line of blocks, which will climb to heights of up to 200 metres and terminate in a monumental gateway building, share the clocktower’s Islamic-lite language: a cliched dressing of pointed arches and filigree grillwork plastered over generic concrete shells.
The developers have somehow transformed a type of architecture that evolved from a dense urban grain of low-rise courtyards and narrow streets into meaningless wallpaper: an endlessly repeatable pattern for the decoration of standardised slab after standardised slab. Flimsy rows of concrete arches hang above swaths of blue mirror glass, punctuated by stick-on timber trellis screens. These are modelled on traditional mashrabiya panels, those beautiful latticework openings designed as ventilating veils, but here they become meaningless applique. “If we are imitating, why can’t we imitate the best?” asks Angawi, in a tone of desperation. “Why are we imitating the worst mistakes of 60 or 70 years ago from around the world – only even bigger?”
Another development of repetitive slabs, echoing Jabal Omar’s toast-rack urbanism, is slated for the northern side of the Grand Mosque, at al-Shamiya, while a $10bn plan to provide an extra 400,000 sq metres of prayer halls there is almost complete. Standing like a gigantic triangular slice of wedding cake, this building will accommodate 1.2m more worshippers each year, but it has come at a price.”
---http://muslimvillage.com/2012/10/25/30665/meccas-mega-architecture-casts-shadow-over-hajj/
the very house Nabi Ibraheem alayhee salam constructed with his own hands. The building work has inevitably changed the hajj experience for everyone. Aside from the increased pollution and heavy machinery, there is more segregation along economic and class lines. Surely, I am not alone in this assessment and every day around the world hundreds of poor Muslims from third world countries for the first time take gaze and tremble at the giant monuments of kufr and shirk, totally against the Sunnah of Rasulullah salalahu alayhee wasalam and his glorious Sahaba kareem. These giant buildings are indeed far for dark and sinister in scope than most laymen may realize. It may be that our vanguards in the field of 'Amr bil maroof wa nahi anil munkar have underestimated the sheer size, money, and evil of the conspiracy that taken ahold of planet earth and placed its toxic corrupting european idols in the forms of buildings. These buildings are actually giant idols. Indeed, they appear to come alive striking terror into the hears of righteous men and women who fear Allah. Indeed, how would Rasulullah salalahuualayheewasalam handle the situation with the buildings? He would do the exact same thing he did in the Kabba and bring down each building of kufr and shirk with controlled demolition. Then, Rasulullah salalahu alayhee wasalam, under the fear and love of Allah, would call upon all of the Muslims of the world to meet in Mecca and he would address them as a people, in person; and the juma'aat would arrive at a much lovely and better architect plan for the holy precincts. It is indeed a great time of tribulation on planet earth, as much on the immediate horizon looks ominous, but Allah is using this conspiracy that has clutched the entire world and even the holy precincts of Islaam to prove that although the kuffaar plot and plan and conspire, so too is Allah planning a better plan and it will prevail at the end of the day in glory. Subahanaallah!! Allahuakbar our Lord is such a great Rabb. How many of us remember that all we have to do to make Allah our Wali is to lower our gaze towrads ghaiyr muhram women and instead fear Allah.
The destruction of the amazing sites of Allah by these mad-men with power operating over the 5,000 saudi prince is remarkable – in fact, it may be that Allah has placed within the 5,000 Saudi princes at least one hero. How anyone could equate respect of tradition, history, legacy and the fact that pure Tawheed actually demands pondering over the creation and the ayats of Allah, not destroying them. The house of Khadijah radiallahu anha – if Rasulullah salalahualayheewasalam were alive now how would he respond to these acts? It may be true that if needed, Rasulullah would allow the spot to be given to the poor – but to build toilets on the house of Khadijah and a Hilton hotel on the house of Hadhrat Abu Bakr radiallahuanhu, may Allah crush them down along with the arrogant Shaytoni Fraud Sauds. To even use one of the Names of Allah to describe this deviant sect, Al-Wahab, is not befitting to Allah Azza Wa Jal's Grandeur and Sublime Sifaats. Indeed Rasulullah salalahu alayhee wasalam would undoubtedly destroy these giant monuments of kufr, dhulm, shirk, bida'a and on. It is unfortunate how this conspiracy snuck up on the Muslim vanguard so quickly. It indeed was a well organized long-term business plan set in effect in Germany and Brittain. When I was a young man in high school, a friend of mine named Chris Thompson gave me a book - “Fleshing out Skull and Bones, order 322”. Every year at Yale University 15 white college frat men would meet. The likes of all three Bush unconstitutional criminals were in this religious cult the rituals of which involved Prescott Bush digging up the bones of epic American Indian war legend Giranamo, may Allah save him. Such skullduggery is indicative of black magic occultism. A human skull was always placed on a table in front of the yearly photograph (including all three Bushs) and in that same photograph there was, in the same room – you guessed it – a giant grandfather clock, a small idol-god eerily similar to the massive Idol placed in the Haram Shareef! May Allah bring these evil monuments to a hasted destruction! Black magic has been unleashed, which in Islaam we know exists and is haraam and whosoever calls on Djinn only does so at the cost of his own soul. In Islaam we are NOT permitted to call on Djinn. However, that does not mean that people who do call on Djinn will not conjure some dark power from the wickid haram. This, however, is all a part of Allah's plan to let the Haqq prevail on its own. Of course Allah can interfere but we are living in the single most interesting time in all of human history and Allah is going to see how it pans out before He steps in with His Divine Wrath and destroy the monuments of Kufr and Shirk found in the Holy Lands of Islaam.
My dear brothers in Islaam, PLEASE WAKE UP to what the Saudi Authoritarian Fascist New World Order tyranny has planned for the Haram Shareef! They are surrounding it with a horrible new reality! Now, from every single possible angle that only the best math expert could solve, there are eyes on the Kabba. Breathtaking in horror, the Musellai realizes that the new all seeing eye has thousands of cameras and angles staring fixatedly on the Kabba itself. My dear brothers and sisters in Islaam please I beg of you boycott the future plans for putting up 30 odd domino-looking monuments all around. Please look at this future plan and do everything in your power to prevent it from coming into being -
It is with a sad heart that I write this letter of mine only because I remember when once my beloved Teacher taught me that, “if you see something unlawful, change it with your hands. If you cannot do that, speak out against it, and if you cannot even do this much, feel bad about it in your heart”.
We should all make fervant dua'a that Allah brings these giant monolith idols of kufr and shirk to a hastened destruction. AMEEEN
Ustadh Muqallid Abdul Haqq al Amreeki
Dhul Hijjah 9th, 1433
Posted by: hajj1433 | Oct 27, 2012 12:47:09 AM
A recent spate of articles about the destruction of Mecca and Medina by the Saudis:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/medina-saudis-take-a-bulldozer-to-islams-history-8228795.html
http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/artanddesign/2012/oct/23/mecca-architecture-hajj1
Posted by: Maniza | Oct 28, 2012 3:38:20 PM
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