Islamica Magazine: The Destruction of Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina
Some excerpts:
“The Mashrubat Umm Ibrahim—which was built to mark the location of the house where the Prophet’s son, Ibrahim, was born to Mariah, his Egyptian wife—also contained the grave of Hamida al-Barbariyya, the mother of Imam Musa al-Kazim. These sites were destroyed over the past few years.”
“In 1998 the grave of Amina bint Wahb, the Prophet’s mother, was bulldozed in Abwa and gasoline was poured on it. Even though thousands of petitions throughout the Muslim world were sent to Saudi Arabia, nothing stopped this action.”
“The authorities plan to demolish the house of Mawlid, where the Prophet was born. About 60 years ago, this house, which used to have a dome over it, was turned into a cattle market. Some people then worked together to transform it into a library, which it is today. It is lined with shelves of books about Mecca, most of them written by Meccans. But the library is under threat again because of the new Jabal ‘Umar project, one of the largest real estate development projects near the Grand Mosque. The birthplace of the Prophet is to make way for a car park and hotels.”
“In Medina, of the seven mosques at the site of the Battle of the Trench (Jabal al-Khandaq), where Sura al-Ahzab was revealed, only two remain. The others have been demolished and a Saudi bank’s cashpoint machine has been built in the area. The remaining mosques will be demolished as soon as the new mosque being constructed is ready. One of the mosques slated for destruction is Masjid Fath, the mosque and rock of victory, where the Prophet stood during the battle of the trench praying for victory. On the rock is where he received God’s promises of victory and of the conquest of Mecca.”
“The House of Sayyida Khadija was located just outside Safa and Marwa and which now falls under the paved area. Above it, the Wahhabi hardliners have built public toilets.”
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Other cities in the world receive huge numbers of tourists…Paris comes to mind. Yet somehow, the French have managed to painstakingly preserve the historical integrity of the city at all costs, while still managing a successful tourism infrastructure. If the Saudis had any desire to preserve these landmarks, they could do it. The problem is that their religious beliefs encourage them to tear them down. When the Saudis first attacked Mecca, they actually tried to tear down the Prophet Muhammad’s mausoleum itself…it was only when every man who mounted the dome slipped and fell to his death that they decided to leave it alone.
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I would argue that the vast majority of hajis coming to Mecca are poor Muslims who saved their entire lives just to make the trip. These people are not going to be spending $550/night so they can stay at a luxurious 5 star hotel with panoramic views of the haram sharif…nor will they be shopping at the Armani store in one of these fancy new malls. These elaborate, multi-million dollar developments aren’t even being done to better accommodate the 90% of hajis coming from the third world.