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Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on February 28th, 2012
The Makkah Clock Royal Tower – Second Tallest Building in the World
Compiled by adamslist and edited by Dr Irfan al Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Foundation
The city of Istanbul is among the world’s most popular destinations among Muslims, largely because of the legacy of the Ottoman period and the numerous mosques and other monuments that survive there, through which Muslims can relate to a golden period of Islamic culture. Other popular destinations include Andalucia in southern Spain , where reminders of Muslim rule survive even though it is nearly 500 years since Muslims were forced from the region and cities such as Cairo , Damascus , and Baghdad .
But in all the history of Islam, the period and personages to whom Muslims owe the greatest debt and for whom we have the greatest respect are undoubtedly those of the time of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) and the places where he and his Family and Companions lived and worked. Yet those, far from being preserved as an invaluable and irreplaceable cultural resource for Muslims now and in the future, are actually being systematically destroyed by the rulers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who claim to be “Guardians of the Holy Places”.
Historical sites already destroyed
These are the sites already destroyed by the Saudis:
1. Jannatul Baqi graveyard in the holy city of Medina: Among the graves and mausoleums which were razed to the ground were those of several of the Prophet’s (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) wives, his infant son Ibrahim, his daughter Ruqayyah, his grandson Imam Hasan ibn ‘Ali, and his descendants ‘Ali ibn Husain, known as Zain al-Abedin, Muhammad al-Baqir and Ja‘far al-Sadiq. So too were the graves of numerous companions, including Uthman ibn ‘Affan, the third Khalifah. Today, Jannatul Baqi is no more than an empty space, the significance of which is not even evident to many who visit Madinah.
2. Mosques: The mosque of Fatima Zahra, the Mosque of al-Manaratain; four mosques at the site of the Battle of the Trench in Madinah and the Salman al-Farsi Mosque in Madinah. The king’s palace stands on the bones of the Abu-Qubays Masjid.
3. The historical cemetery in Makkah Jannat al-Mu’allah where rests Khadija, the wife of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family), the grave of Aminah bint Wahb, the Prophet’s (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) mother, bulldozed and set alight in 1998 with gasoline; the graves of Banu Hashim in Makkah and the tombs of Hamzah and other martyrs were demolished at Uhud.
4. The houses where Muhammad (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) is believed to have been born in 570ce, was demolished to make way for the library. The house of Khadijah, the Prophet’s (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) first wife, and where several of his children were born is now a public lavatory, and the house in Madinah where he lived after the hijrah, have also been destroyed, as has Dar al Arqam, the first meeting place of the pioneering Muslims and the first Islamic school where the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) taught now hosts the escalators of al Haram Mosque. Abu Bakr As-Siddiq’s house which was also demolished is now the Makkah Hilton Hotel.
5. To build the skyscraper city, the authorities dynamited an entire mountain and the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress that lay on top of it.
Mimar Sinan, the famous Turkish architect who renovated the Haram in the 16th century, was so in awe that he refused to build anything higher than the Ka’bah. Yet today Saudi developers boast about a multi-million dollar clock, a monstrous wart looming 1,000 metres over the Haram. It seriously begs the question: where’s the spiritual respect, the old-fashioned adhab (respect) towards the sacred environment?
Indeed, the developers have kept quiet for years about the ecological havoc they’ve wreaked in the Holy Cities. Sewage now flows into Makkah’s oldest cemetery, the Jannat ul-Ma’ala, where Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family), lies buried.
Destruction of the geography of the Seerah
Besides the structures materializing memories of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) and his Companions, the historical sites of the Sirah have been wiped away. The routes followed by the Muslims to the battlegrounds of Badr and Uhud have also been cleared.
How many pilgrims visiting Makkah nowadays know that developers, deaf to the ears of experts, damaged the well of Zamzam when rock-blasting? The BBC conducted chemical tests on Zamzam last year and discovered that it now contains traces of arsenic.
Historical sites that are under threat
Bayt al-Mawlid
When the Wahabis took Makkah in the 1920s they destroyed the dome on top of the house where the Prophet Mohammed (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) was born. It was then used as a cattle market before being turned into a library after a campaign by Makkan’s. 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 Abasi columns of the Grand Mosque
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 Wahhabis, they are inscribed with the names of the Prophet’s companions. Ottoman Makkah is now rapidly disappearing.
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi – The mosque of the Prophet(pbuh)
For many years, hard line Wahhabi clerics have had their sights set on the 15th century green dome that rests above the tomb holding the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family), Abu Bakr and Umar in Medina . The mosque is regarded as the second holiest site in Islam. Wahhabis, 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”. The destruction of the Prophet’s (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) grave is something beyond the imagination of most Muslims, yet it must be regarded as a very real possibility under the current rulers of the Hijaz. The removal of the iconic Green Dome from over the graves is a preliminary step to this plan.
Jabal al-Nour
A mountain outside Makkah where Mohammed (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) received his first Quranic revelations. The Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) used to spend long periods of time 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. Visiting the mountain, one can find a signpost with a fatwa, “The Prophet Muhammed (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) did not permit us to climb on to this hill, not to pray here, not to touch stones, and tie knots on trees…”
In short, keep away — don’t get too close to site of the first Quranic revelation, the place that first witnessed the communication between God and the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) that was to alter the geography of the world.
Islamic Perspectives
Imam Muhammad al Asi ( Washington , USA )
Glossary:
Bid’at: A negative modification; this term in Islamic jurisprudence refers to additions or subtractions from the Prophet’s (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) lifestyle pattern
Haram: The sacred Mosque in Makkah, within which is the Ka’bah
Aqeedah: The belief system that is based upon a firm conviction in all the fundamentals of faith and of the Oneness of God
Tarbiyah: It means “to cause something to develop from stage to stage until reaching its completion (full potentiall)
Salafi: Someone who died within the first four hundred years after the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family). The Salafi movement advocates a return to a shari’a-minded orthodoxy that would purify Islam from unwarranted accretions, the criteria for judging which would be the Qur’an and hadith
Ayat: A verse of the Holy Quran
Munafiq: A dual loyalist; Muslims who outwardly perform the rituals of Islam but when they are required to honour this Islam with struggle and sacrifice they show inclination towards the anti-Islamic camps, states or powers around
Sahabah: A companion of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family)
Shuhadah: A martyr
Jahili: Term used to describe the era that preceded the revelation of the Qur’an, a period of ignorance
Hadith: A verbal or practical precedent of the Prophet Muhammad (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family); whatever the Prophet said, did or decided
‘Suffice it to say that the Saudi regime has been implementing policies internally and externally that are toxic and detrimental to Islam. Their whole rationalization of destroying or “levelling” Islamic historical sites is their obsession with bid’at. So they explain their destruction of particular grave-sites (adrihah) as a means to prohibit Muslims from worshiping such grave-sites or offering prayers at such places. One of their “scholars” wrote his Ph.D. thesis arguing for the demolition or even the elimination of the Prophet’s (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) grave in al-Masjid al-Nabawi as it has become a meeting place for bid’at promoters! With this bid’at phobia they try to justify much of what they do.
Therefore, if you ask them why are you building a clock-tower just adjacent to the Ka”ba, or why are you constructing high-rises next to the Haram , or why have you embarked on a grand construction project that will have a metropolis around the Holy Precinct of the Ka’bah which will make the Ka’bah diminish into insignificance, they will either not answer these questions or they will pepper their response with their defence of bid’at as this is their ‘aqeedah and tarbiyah, and whatever else they have in their ‘salafi’ vocabulary. No ayats, no hadiths.
They are undoing a history that should be cherished and celebrated by all Muslims. If we were to enlist in their “modernistic” drive to change and virtually mutilate the environment of Makkah we would be accomplices to a crime against the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family), his intimate circle and followers. If bid’ah is what they are afraid of, then combat bid’ah at its source: ignorance and calcified traditions. This bid’at that they talk and write about is in the hearts and minds of some individuals not in the grave-sites of Sufis, or in the house of Khadijah the Prophet’s wife, or in the cemetery of Al-Baqi’ where the famous companions of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) are buried, or in other similar places.
Remember, the Saudi Americanized family is doing everything it pleases in Makkah and al- Al Madinah Al Munawwarah without consulting with the rest of the Muslim world. They behave as if Makkah and Al- Al Madinah Al Munawwarah is their personal property. No Muslim dare call them munafiqs.
UNESCO has designated jahili sites in Makkah as historical and off bounds to Saudi bulldozers. But when it comes to Islamic sites then the Saudis have the green light to bulldoze the homes of the sahaaba and the landmarks of our precious history defended by the blood of the shuhada in that first and second generation of Muslims.
The love of Allah’s Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) is enshrined in ayahs in the Quran and hadiths of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family). Therefore if you have a choice between preserving anything belonging to the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) out of love for him or pulverizing everything belonging to him out of fear of a “bid’at” you would certainly opt for the former, if you are a truly committed Muslim, something that the Saudi royals are proving with their policies and politics not to be.’
Hassan Ghani (Press TV, London )
Some religious leaders say destruction of the most precious sites in Islam for fear of idolatry is like killing a child for fear that he may grow up to be less than pious. In effect, they say, behind the obsessive fear of idolatry lies a complete lack of understanding and total fanaticism of radical Islam, unable even to appreciate its own past.
It should also be noted that the Muslims attachment to these places stems from the realisation that some of these places are the sites where Quranic revelation took place. For example the house of Sayiddinah Khadija, the wife of the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family) is the site where the Angel Gabriel visited for the purpose of revealing verses of the Quran to the Prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him and on his family). (Ed)
The preservation of heritage sites connected with the ruling Saudi family
It is difficult to explain this behaviour, especially as the Saudis are clearly not oblivious to the importance of historical monuments and heritage. A few years ago, the Saudi General Commission for Tourism and Antiquities announced plans to restore 200 historical sites around the country, include the pre-Islamic site of Madian Saleh and numerous palaces and other buildings in Dir‘iyyah associated with the Saudi family, and old houses in the old area of Jeddah. The suggestion that these have greater value than Islamic sites is deeply offensive to Muslims everywhere. Of the three sites the Saudis have allowed the UN to designate World Heritage Sites, none are related to Islam.
Muslim response
There are many reasons why this issue does not get the attention that it deserves. One is undoubtedly the Saudis’ patronage of many Islamic organizations around the world in recent decades. Another may be that there are so many other issues confronting Muslims, not the least of which are the genocides of Muslim populations and the oppression of Islamic activism in almost every Muslim country, compared to which the destruction of a building may arguably appear of lesser importance. Nonetheless, it is important that every effort be made to prevent the Saudis from destroying what little remains of the heritage of Islam, for it is largely through such monuments that peoples’ historical memories are stimulated and sustained, and the destruction of these memories will have profound implications for future generations’ understanding and knowledge of Islam itself.
Possible actions by Muslims globally
1. Muslims and Muslim organization should lobby U.N.E.S.C.O by writing letters to them to protect the religious sites in Makkah and Medina . It is sad that Muslims have to turn to a body like UNESCO to prevent a Muslim government from desecrating these sites.
2. Presenting letters of objection to Saudi embassies on a global scale.
3. Engage and exert pressure on Saudi delegations and religious scholars on this issue when they visit our mosques. The issue of certain Muslim activists not being granted visas to perform the pilgrimages to Makkah and the reports of human rights abuses in Arabia are also important issues that should be raised.
4. Networking with NGO’s in Muslim countries and Muslim minorities in the UK , USA , etc so that these NGO’s can exert pressure on the Saudis.
5. Refrain from accepting Saudi funding for religious or any other projects. The acceptance of Saudi funds will ultimately have the effect of impairing one’s independence and sense of justice.
6. Lobby the Arab League, OIC, GCC and Muslim majority governments to engage the Saudis on this issue.
Concluding remarks
The house of Sa’ud enjoys the dubious distinction of being one of the only regimes in history to have overseen its own cultural genocide, and to have consciously obliterated its sacred spaces in the name of a religious demagogue, ibn ‘Abd ul-Wahhab.
Globally, communities and religious groups are going to great lengths to preserve their religious and cultural heritage. Sadly the Muslim community is the only community, barring the efforts of a handful of sincere individuals, remains passive whilst its heritage is being destroyed by a small deviant sect within the Ummah (the global Muslim community).
This article was compiled by adamlist from the sources below and edited by Dr Irfan al Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Foundation.
Further information available on the heritage via the link below:
Email: info@islamic-heritage.org
Sources:
1. The Saudi record of violence against the historical heritage of Islam by Iqbal Siddique, Crescent International
2. Mecca for the rich: Islam’s holiest site ‘turning into Vegas’, Jerome Taylor, The Independent UK , 24 September 2011
3. Saudi Arabia’s war of steel and concrete on Islam by Zainab Cheema , Crescent International, November 2010
4. Saudi destruction of Islamic sites raises concern by Hassan Ghani, Press TV, London, January 2011
5. Hajj crisis: yearning for the traditional valuesby Shafiq Morton, Surfing behind the wall blogspot, October 18 2011
6. Inputs by Dr Irfan al Alawi ( Executive Director, Islamic Heritage Foundation), Imam Muhammad al Asi , Washington USA and Professor Sulayman Dangor ( South Africa )
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on January 25th, 2012
The position of women in Islam has recently been an issue of debate. Some misconceptions arise, either from traditional practices which are thought to be “Islamic,” but are not, or else from prejudices. However, the real issue is how women are regarded in the Islamic faith, and when we look at this, we see that Islam gives women great social value, freedom and comfort.
Women in the Qur’an
God’s commandments about the status of women and the relations between men and women, which have been revealed to us through the Qur’an, consist of full justice. In this regard, Islam suggests equality of rights, responsibilities and duties between the two genders. Islam is based on sympathy, tolerance and respect for human beings, and does not discriminate against women in this matter.
The examples of good morals communicated to us in the Qur’an are universally compatible with human nature, and are valid for all stages of history.
Respect for women and women’s rights fall within this. In the Qur’an God insists that the tasks and responsibilities of women are the same as those of men. Furthermore, while performing these tasks and responsibilities men and women must help and support each other:
The men and women of the believers are friends of one another. They command what is right and forbid what is wrong, and establish prayer and pay alms, and obey Allah and His Messenger. They are the people on whom Allah will have mercy. Allah is Almighty, All Wise. (Qur’an, 9:71)
God emphasizes that believers will be rewarded in the same manner according to their deeds, regardless of their gender.
Their Lord responds to them: ‘I will not let the deeds of any doer among you go to waste, male or female – you are both the same in that respect… (Qur’an, 3:195)
Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did. (Qur’an, 16:97)
In another verse, Muslim men and women are considered together, and it is stressed that both have the same responsibility and status in God’s sight:
Men and women who are Muslims, men and women who are believers, men and women who are obedient, men and women who are truthful, men and women who are steadfast, men and women who are humble, men and women who give alms, men and women who fast, men and women who guard their private parts, men and women who remember Allah much: Allah has prepared forgiveness for them and an immense reward. (Qur’an, 33:35)
In the Qur’an there are many more verses stating that men and women are exactly equal in terms of their tasks and responsibilities and their rewards or punishments in return. There are a few differences in social issues, but these are for the comfort and protection of women. The commands of the Qur’an regard the congenital differences between the two genders resulting from their creation, and suggest a system maintaining equal justice for men and women in this light.
Islam does not see women as objects. Therefore, it is not seen appropriate that a woman of good morals should marry a man of bad morals. In the same way, it is not permitted for a woman of bad morals to marry a man of good morals:
Corrupt women are for corrupt men and corrupt men are for corrupt women, Good women are for good men and good men are for good women. The latter are innocent of what they say. They will have forgiveness and generous provision. (Qur’an, 24:26)
Also as regards marriage, the duties and responsibilities of couples towards each other require equality. God demands that both spouses be protective of and supervise each other. This duty is expressed in the Qur’an in the following words.
They are covers for you and you for them… (Qur’an, 2:187)
Many rules and commandments exist in the Qur’an regarding the protection of women’s rights on marriage. Marriage is based on the free will of both parties; the husband has to provide economic support for his wife (4:4); the husband has to look after his ex-wife after divorce (65:6).
The Islamic Emancipation of Women
As the verses make clear, Islam brings justice to male-female relations and puts an end to harmful practices resulting from customs and traditions of pre-Islamic societies. One example is the situation of women in pre-Islamic Arab society. The pagan Arabs regarded women as inferior, and having a daughter was something to be ashamed of. Fathers of daughters sometimes preferred to bury them alive rather than announce their birth. By means of the Qur’an, Allah prohibited this evil tradition and warned that on the Judgment Day such people will definitely have to account for their actions.
In fact, Islam brought with it a great emancipation for women, who were severely persecuted in the pagan era. Prof. Bernard Lewis, known as one of the greatest Western experts on the history of Islam and the Middle East, makes the following comment:
In general, the advent of Islam brought an enormous improvement in the position of women in ancient Arabia, endowing them with property and some other rights, and giving them a measure of protection against ill treatment by their husbands or owners. The killing of female infants, sanctioned by custom in Pagan Arabia, was outlawed by Islam. But the position of women remained poor, and worsened when, in this as in so many other respects, the original message of Islam lost its impetus and was modified under the influence of pre-existing attitudes and customs. 1
Karen Armstrong, another Western expert on Islam, makes the following comment:
We must remember what life had been like for women in the pre-Islamic period when female infanticide was the norm and when women had no rights at all. Like slaves, women were treated as an inferior species, who had no legal existence. In such a primitive world, what Muhammad achieved for women was extraordinary. The very idea that a woman could be witness or could inherit anything at all in her own right was astonishing. 2
In fact, during the many centuries that followed Prophet Muhammad, women of the Islamic societies had a much higher social position than the women of Christendom. Karen Armstrong emphasizes that, during the Middle Ages;
… the Muslims were horrified to see the way Western Christians treated their women in the Crusader states, and Christian scholars denounced Islam for giving too much power to menials like slaves and women. 3
Anna King, a modern Muslim woman and a convert – or, better to say, a revert – to Islam, explains the Islamic emancipation of women as follows:
Islam first gave women their rights in a time when women were nothing but the property of men. Islam gave women the right to buy and sell on their own, own businesses and express her views politically. These were all basic rights which the American woman was not granted until relatively recently! It also encouraged women to study and learn Islamic knowledge, breaking a ban which several religions had stipulated, which forbid women to acquire any religious knowledge or touch religious texts… It also abolished the practice of marrying a woman without her consent. Thus, one would have to be very stubborn indeed to refuse such obvious facts and proofs that Islam was women’s first liberator.
The tendencies to see women as “an inferior species” who has no right for education and that must be totally secluded from the society arose much later in the Islamic world, as a result of deviations from the right Qur’anic path.
Conclusion
Thus we can say that the mentality that despises women, excludes them from society and regards them as second class citizens is a wicked pagan attitude which has no place in Islam.
In fact, devout women are depicted as good examples for mankind in the Qur’an. One is Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Another is the wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh who, despite her husband’s wickedness, is also described as an ideal Muslim. (see, 66:11-12) The Qur’an also describes very gentle conversations between the Prophet Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (27:42-44), and between Moses and two young ladies (28:23-26), which symbolize the civilized social relationship between the two genders.
Therefore, it is impossible for a Muslim to have a bigoted approach to women. In a society where true Islamic morals are practiced, immense respect and sympathy will be shown to women, and it will be ensured that they can live in freedom and comfort.
The fundamental rule in Qur’anic exegesis is ensuring that the derived meaning is in conformity with the integrity of the Qur’an. When this is considered, it is seen that all the rules mentioned to us by Allah regarding women form a social structure allowing them to live in the most comfortable and happiest way. In a society where all the moral values mentioned by Islam are practiced comprehensively, the social position of women becomes even more exalted than in societies that we today regard as modern.
Read more of Dr.Harun Yahya’s articles on Women in Islam at”http://www.womaninthequran.com/
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on January 14th, 2012
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on December 15th, 2011
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on October 2nd, 2011