Saudi Arabia: Demolishing history
Who shall protest the Saudi government s plans to tear down Prophet Muhammads
house in Mecca?
BY TAREK FATAH
In December 1992 a mob of 1,50,000 Hindu nationalists attacked a
15th-century mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya.
Within hours, the mosque was reduced to rubble and in
the weeks to follow, thousands of Indians died in
Hindu-Muslim riots.
The Muslim world reacted in outrage. Among the
countries that expressed anger at the destruction of
the centuries-old Indian mosque by Hindu extremists
was Saudi Arabia. Here in Canada, imams gave fiery
sermons and urged congregations to protest.
Although more than a dozen years have passed since the
destruction of the mosque, there is still bitterness
in the air. Muslims worldwide feel a sense of betrayal
and impotence at not being able to control their own
destiny and protect their historical religious sites.
However, a Muslim site far more significant than the
Babri mosque is facing destruction, but there is
barely a murmur in protest. The site is none other
than the home of Prophet Muhammad in the city of
Mecca.
The demolition of the prophets 1,400-year-old home is
not going to take place at the hands of non-Muslims or
some occupying western army, but by the very people
who have taken the title as protectors of Islams two
holiest mosques in Medina and Mecca: the Saudi royal
family.
What makes this demolition worse is the fact that the
home of the Prophet is to make way for a parking lot,
two 50-storey hotel towers and seven 35-storey
apartment blocks; a project known as the Jabal Omar
Scheme, all within a stones throw of the Grand
Mosque.
Yet despite this outrage, not a single Muslim country,
no ayatollah, no mufti, no king, not even a Muslim
Canadian imam has dared utter a word in protest.
Such is the power of Saudi influence on the Muslim
narrative.
The question is this: Why is it that when the Babri
mosque was demolished, hundreds of thousands of
Muslims worldwide took to the streets to protest, but
when Saudi authorities plan to demolish the home of
our beloved Prophet, not a whisper is heard?
Is it because Muslims have become so overwhelmed by
the power of the Saudi riyal currency that we have
lost all courage and self-respect? Or is it because we
feel a need to cover up Muslim-on-Muslim violence;
Muslim-on-Muslim terror; Muslim-on-Muslim oppression?
However, in this climate conducive to cowardice, there
still are a few giants that stand tall. Dr. Sami
Angawi is one of them.
An eminent Saudi architect, he is a brave man in a
country where courage is scarce. Today, he leads a
one-man campaign to save the home of Muhammad.
He told the London newspaper, The Independent, "The
house where the Prophet received the word of God is
gone and nobody cares... this is the end of history in
Mecca and Medina and the end of their future."
The cultural massacre of Islamic heritage sites is not
a new phenomenon. It is said that in the last two
decades, 95 per cent of Meccas 1,000-year-old
buildings have been demolished. In the early 1920s,
the Saudis bulldozed and levelled a graveyard in
Medina that housed the graves of the family and
companions of Muhammad.
Today the religious zealots in Saudi Arabia are not
alone. Commercial developers have joined hands with
them and are making hundreds of millions in profits as
they build ugly, but lucrative high-rises that are
shadowing the Grand Mosque known as the Kaaba.
The Muslim Canadian Congress has strongly condemned
this outrage and called it a cultural massacre of
Muslim heritage for the sake of profit. In a letter to
the Saudi ambassador in Ottawa, Niaz Salimi, president
of the MCC, has demanded an immediate stop to these
demolitions and the placing of a moratorium on all
future destruction of Muslim heritage sites.
She writes, "The sacred places of Islam, regardless of
where they are located, belong to the Muslim community
worldwide. The countries where they are located are
simply trustees and have no right to destroy them."
Today Saudi petrodollars have the ability to silence
even its most vocal critics, but when all is said and
done, history will render a harsh judgement on those
who try to wipe out its footprints and steal the
heritage of all humanity.
(Tarek Fatah is a founding member of the Muslim
Canadian Congress and host of the weekly TV show, The
Muslim Chronicle. www.muslimcanadiancongress.org )..
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