Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

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porus
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Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#1

Unread post by porus » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:09 pm

Destruction of Historical Sites in Makkah & Medina The Cradle of Islam

Yet Muslim Ummah Remains Silent!!!!!

The QUESTION is WHY?

The Saudis are now set on unprecedented onslaught of demolishing the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad pbuh and other historical structures in the heart of Mecca and Medina, the cradle of Islam, revered by the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. Over the last two decades most of Makkah's 1000-year-old historic sites have been bulldozed and replaced by hotels and other concrete jungles. Failure to protect them from destruction is the biggest tragedy for the Islamic architectural heritage.

The Saudi royal family claims to be guardians of the holy places of Islam, and profit hugely from the centuries by visiting believers to Makkah and Medina for pilgrimage. And yet, they are party to this barbaric desecration of the holiest sites in the Islamic world.

Today, the religious zealots in Saudi Arabia are not alone. Commercial developers such as Bin Laden Group 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 Ka'aba. 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 judgment on those who try to wipe out its footprints and steal the heritage of all humanity.

The problem is the Saudi's interpretation of Islam; they are opposed to the preservation of the old historic structures due to belief that some Muslims in their ignorance would be overcome with love and awe that historic sites may invoke, leading to idolatrous thoughts. Destruction of the most precious sites in Islam for fear of idolatry by some is like killing a child for fear that he may grow up to be less than pious. In effect, 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.

What is the reason for this silence: "Is it because so called Muslim nations have become so overwhelmed by the power of the Saudi denial of Visas for Pilgrimage (Hajj), 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?

We Muslims constantly rally against any wrongs inflicted on fellow-Muslims by non-believers, but hold our silence when Muslims kill, exploit and terrorize other Muslims. Thus, when the Americans kill Iraqis, or the Russians persecute Chechens; we are rightly offended and resentful. But when Saddam Hussein massacred Kurds and Shias for years, Muslims around the world maintained a discreet silence. So why this conspiracy of silence?

Thousands demonstrated against the desecration of the Holy Book Quran at Guantanamo and in USA and thousands complained at the remark by Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, referring to Makkah and Medina when he said "If there is another 9/11 we should take out their holy places," Where are those zealots now?

Why aren't our preachers at mosques demand that the Saudi government halt their destructive plans? Alas, these double standards are what now define the Muslim Community. We have become completely neutered when it comes to criticizing other Muslims. This is not of washing our dirty linen in public but this is the time to self-analyze and self-criticize and these things need to be said out loud, clear and often.

Saudi Arabia, in which Wahhabism is the state form of Islam, has a long history of vandalizing and demolishing historical monuments. Cultural devastation of Islamic heritage sites is not a new phenomenon.

1). In 1801 the Saudis-Wahabbis waged a campaign against the Shia Muslim destroying and defacing the sacred tomb of the Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq.

2). Then in early 1920 Saudi rulers Aal-e-Sa'ud bulldozed and levelled a graveyard in Medina - Cemetery of Al-Baqee - and Jannatul Moualla - in the holy city of Makkah that housed the shrines of the grandfather of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, his family and his companions. This anniversary falls on around 8th of Sept this year (i.e. 8th of Shawal 1432) and is Know as Yaum-e-Ghum - The Day of Grief for Muslims.

3). The Saudis followed their conquest of Mecca and Medina in the mid-1920s with an orgy of destruction. They levelled the "Jannat al-Baqi" or "Heavenly Orchard" at Medina that included graves of the Prophet Muhammad's son Abraham, as well as numerous of the Prophet's relatives and companions.

4). They also looted the Prophet's Shrine in Medina and demolished the cemetery in Makkah that included the graves of Muhamad's mother and grandfather.

5). They completely destroyed mausoleums, mosques, and other honoured sites, including Muhamad's own house.

6). It was even said that they wished to uproot the grave of Muhammad himself and tear down the Kaaba, the stone temple at the centre of Mecca. They were prevented from this last act by pressure from Muslims around the world.

7). Wahabism vandalism continues today, by levelling of five of seven mosques built in the city Makkah & Medina by Muhamad's daughter and four of his companions. These structures are the Mosque of Sayyida Fatima bint Rasulillah, Salman al-Farsi Mosque and Mosque of Ali ibn Abi Talib a.s. and many others.

Wahhabism is not about faith, but about power and nothing better illustrates the power of the state, in the mind of the Saudi rulers, than the desecration of holy places--including Islamic sites dating from the time of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh himself.

What pains is - what type of opium we Muslim masses are on anyway? What will it take to shake our deep slumber? We Muslims should be in no doubt that acts of terrorism do not speak for Islam, and that the perpetrators will get no shelter and no moral support from the people who love God (Allah). Today, Islam needs to find the resources within it to combat extremism. More importantly, the moment has come to shift our struggle and to organize mainstream, traditional Muslims, throughout the world, for the liberation of our communities and our faith from the grip of corrupt rulers - whether in Saudi Arabia, or elsewhere throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds.

What is all more disturbing is that the so called Muslim Nations around the world (except only Iran) continue to remain silent at the desecration of our Holy sites!!!.

****************************************************************
Question
TODAY WILL WE EVEN HAVE TIME & COURAGE TO WRITE JUST ONE LETTER/E-MAIL TO SAUDI AUTHORITIES TO CONDEMN THEM FOR THEIR ACTIONS AND ASK THEM TO RE-BUILD THESE HOLY PLACES?

I very much doubt - but then, WHO KNOWS!

After the so called spiritual awakening from Month of Ramadhan & Nights of Qa'dr, we may possibly do it!!!!!

Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala aali Muhammad

[The above is excerpted from an e-mail that I have received.]

Muslim First
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#2

Unread post by Muslim First » Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:58 pm

Why hide authers name?

Here is origine of article

http://hasnain.wordpress.com/2010/09/16 ... in-silent/

Here is hasnain's home page
http://hasnain.wordpress.com/

BTW
I personally prefer to see historic sites and preserve them no matter where they are.

Muslim First
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Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2001 4:01 am

Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#3

Unread post by Muslim First » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:14 pm

Destruction of Holy Sites in Makkah & Medina - The Cradle of Islam

http://www.petitiononline.com/baqee110/petition.html

Wow grand total of 2 signature

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/ ... i?baqee110

Muslim First
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#4

Unread post by Muslim First » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:22 pm

Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destructio ... tage_sites

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#5

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Sat Sep 10, 2011 6:19 pm

These B@@@@@ds should be dragged out of their palaces, stripped naked and flogged in public.

However what has the so called great lover of Ahlu-bayt, the bohra dai done so far to stop these rascals from demolishing the holy sites ? Has he even once raised his voice in protest ? And then he is fooling the abdes since decades that he will build a gold zari on Fatema-tus-zehra's shrine thereby accumulating gold by tonnes and turning saifee mahal into a virtual Fort Knox. God forbid, if the shrine itself is demolished then what will happen to all the gold extorted from the gullible abdes ? Just like every second venture, this too will go bust and he will laugh all the way to the bank.

Fatwa Banker
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#6

Unread post by Fatwa Banker » Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:46 pm

Or is it because we feel a need to cover up Muslim-on-Muslim violence; Muslim-on-Muslim terror; Muslim-on-Muslim oppression? We Muslims constantly rally against any wrongs inflicted on fellow-Muslims by non-believers, but hold our silence when Muslims kill, exploit and terrorize other Muslims. Thus, when the Americans kill Iraqis, or the Russians persecute Chechens; we are rightly offended and resentful. But when Saddam Hussein massacred Kurds and Shias for years, Muslims around the world maintained a discreet silence. So why this conspiracy of silence?


Someone else has been making this point repeatedly on this board...trying to remember who it is.... :wink:

anajmi
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#7

Unread post by anajmi » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:37 pm

Two similar farts do not a fragrance make!!

Here is an earlier post by porus that would make a good response to his own post on this thread.

Let me now talk about ‘Muslim-on-Muslim’ violence. I have previously split this into two categories: war between Muslim states and unlawful violence by religious extremists. There is a third category. This is the violence perpetrated by Muslim governments against their own people for suppressing protests.

There is not much to be said about wars between Muslim countries like the Iran-Iraq war. This had nothing to do with Islam.

Unlawful violence by religious extremists whether it is Muslim against Muslim, or Muslim against Hindu, is the violence perpetrated by criminals. There are laws against this behavior in all Muslim countries. Protests, when they are permitted, do occur against Government’s inability and incompetence in dealing with such outrages. However, generally, people do not come out in mass protests against criminal outrage. Muslim Governments do not support such outrages.

If that happened, every time there was a murder, there would be mass protests. There were no street protests against Timothy McVeigh when he obliterated the Alfred Murrah building in Oklahoma. Unlike in the case of Afghanistan, the US Government did not thoroughly destroy all Oklahoma State because of that atrocity. They pursued McVeigh and caught him. They knew Bin Laden to be hiding in the caves but they would not pursue him. They wanted revenge on the entire population of Afghanistan and they satisfied their lust. 9/11 terrorists were criminals and should have been treated the same as McVeigh.

The third category is the violence against Muslims by Muslim Governments. There are indeed protests against these outrages by Muslims. However, the real protest should be directed against the US and its allies who are the real enablers of such violence. These Governments are puppets and do their master’s bidding. Mass protests in other countries against such violence by specific Muslim countries would require a presence of a large number of its citizens there which are not always there. Also, there is very little information available about these suppressions.

Protests are directed against those who have the means to do something about the complaint. So, when will Americans march en masse against their countries support for their vicious puppets?


http://dawoodi-bohras.com/forum/viewtop ... nce#p68933

porus
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#8

Unread post by porus » Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:24 am

Saudi Arabia to raze Prophet Mohammed's tomb to build larger mosque?

I am not sure whether the report of razing the tomb is true. However, Wahhabis did attempt to destroy it early in 29th century but King Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the founder of the ruling dynasty, heard the pleas of Muslims all over the world and persuaded Wahhabis to stall for time.

Truly, the plan to commercialize Makka and Madina is monstrous attack on spiritual cradle of Islam.

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2125/sa ... ed-tomb-to

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#9

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Mon Nov 19, 2012 4:05 pm

In every likelihood the report to raze Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w.) tomb could be true because the saudi mufti had given such a fatwa some years back but the matter was hushed up by the authorities. Whatever be the wahabi plan but it cannnot supersede Allah's plan and Iam sure and have 100% Imaan that Allah (swt) will NEVER allow such a thing to happen come what may !!! Jab geedar ki maut aati hai to woh shahar ki taraf bhaagta hai aur jab koi duniyawaale ki maut aati hai to woh Allah ke nek bando ki shaan main gustakhi karta hai !!

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#10

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:30 pm

While on the subject of wahabi vandalism, there is a fresh threat to Egyptian pyramids. Excerpts from an article :-

Egyptian Idol
The Salafi threat to blow up the pyramids is nothing new: Egypt's ambivalence toward its past dates back centuries.
BY IAN STRAUGHN | NOVEMBER 15, 2012

In March 2001, Mullah Omar and the Afghan Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, exploding the statues and reducing to rubble some of Afghanistan's most important cultural relics. That act seemed to epitomize the cultural intolerance of the Taliban regime but also drew attention to the ways in which cultural heritage preservation has become used as a measure of civilized behavior of states in an era of global cosmopolitanism. For those concerned about the future of the world's antiquities, this week another threat emerged on the horizon. In an interview with Egyptian Dream TV over the weekend, Salafist leader Murgan Salem al-Gohary called on Muslims to destroy the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx as a religiously mandated act of iconoclasm. "The idols and statutes that fill Egypt must be destroyed. Muslims are tasked with applying the teachings of Islam and removing these idols, just like we did in Afghanistan when we smashed the Buddha statues," said Gohary, who claims to have participated in the destruction of Buddhas in Afghanistan and was arrested on several occasions under the Mubarak regime.

Forget for a minute the gross improbability of Gohary's threat to destroy millions tons of sheer rock and stone, monuments that have survived foreign invasions, rapacious pillagers, and environmental threats. It is a move almost guaranteed to draw media attention, particularly with the high level of anxiety surrounding the new political clout of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the rise of the Salafist al-Nour party as a significant force in both the government and the charting of a new constitution. Fears over how Islamists might fare in post-Mubarak Egypt have only intensified amid a roiling debate over issues such as the role of women, the inclusion of minorities, and the country's position toward Western interests. Amid this debate, Egypt's Pharaonic remains have now become the latest touchstone for controversy.

At first glance, this latest conflict might appear to boil down to a clash between conservative and liberal strands of Islam, but the debate over Egypt's antiquities dates back centuries. Medieval Islamic scholars worked assiduously to understand the relics, with some attempting to decipher the hieroglyphic inscriptions. By the late 19th century, Egypt's archeological sites were the center of a nationalist struggle that became crystallized in the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb and how to partition its treasures between the state and the site's excavators. But that conflict was but a variation on a theme in Egypt's history. During the era of Egypt's entanglement with European imperialism following the Napoleonic conquest in 1798, the new field of Egyptology would emerge to dominate the representation of Egypt and assert control over the country's heritage. That heritage has also become an important political symbol in Egypt's more recent history -- both Anwar Sadat and Mubarak were derided as latter-day pharaohs for their authoritarian tendencies.

While most Egyptians recognize and understand the role that these ruins play in the economy and various state efforts to represent Egypt as a modern-day heir to one of the world's great civilizations, there is a palpable discomfort with this promotion and glorification of a pre-Islamic past. The archaeologist Neil Asher Silberman once referred to this as an "uneasy inheritance." For some Egyptians, too much attention is paid to these works of idolatry, whose preservation eat up resources at the expense of the welfare of an Islamic past, present, and future. Pharaoh, we might recall, is particularly singled out for approbation in Quranic scripture, which conservative Muslims have used to challenge any reverence and respect for the material remnants of this era as a marker of shirk -- the sin of polytheism or, literally, the partnering of something with God.

This logic has been central in the justification of various acts of iconoclasm throughout history and in modern times. Salafists and Wahhabis have long looked to the scholarship of the 13th century thinker Ibn Taymiyyah for jurisprudential grounding to destroy sites, particularly tombs and shrines connected to the Sufi tradition and important figures in Shiism, which served as loci of pilgrimages or acts of ziyara (literally "visitation"). Such acts of destruction have been notable throughout the Arabian Peninsula and even within the holy precincts of Mecca and Medina.

But the voices of the iconoclasts do not go unchallenged within the Muslim tradition. Consider the remarks of the 10th century Muslim traveler in Egypt, al-Masudi, as he describes his own consternation at the destruction of Pharaonic ruins. He writes to his future progeny:

"Look, son, what the Pharaohs built and how it is being destroyed by these idiots. Nothing is more tragic and sad than the loss of what these ruins offer to those who would regard them and consider their lessons...What sort of wisdom preaches that these ruins should be removed from the face of the Earth?"

Masudi sought to find support for these ruins within the Islamic tradition. For him, they serve to strengthen the Quranic injunction to search out and contemplate the lessons (‘ibar) which the divine has left for believers in the landscape. His words make room for an Islamic cosmopolitanism and pluralism that holds particular urgency for the debates about the future of post-Mubarak Egypt. Egyptians will continue to argue about what lessons they want to draw from the past without literally pulling the house down around them, but they can do so safe in the knowledge that an embrace of ancient Egypt and its antiquities is not incompatible with Islam.

In the aftermath of attempts to destroy a series of sites in Saudi Arabia, the well-known Muslim American calligrapher Muhammad Zakariya commented that those involved propagated a vision of Islam "unable to accommodate the difficulty and complexity -- the depth and texture -- of [Islam] and, ultimately, of its essential meaning." He continued: "Islam is large. Muslims are not mushriks (idolaters)."

Indeed: Islam is large. This debate within the faith over how to reconcile a non-Muslim past with a fervently Muslim present speaks to the broader debate within the religion over how to orient itself after the Arab Spring. While the authoritarian yoke of Mubarak-era Egypt has now been cast off, the relationship of Islam and secularism in Egyptian society remains highly unstable. The Muslim Brotherhood in particular, as it enters the realm of politics, will be forced to navigate with greater clarity between progressive voices calling for pluralism and conservatives advocating a more fixed codification of sharia within Egypt's new constitutional framework. And, the preferences of Murgan Salem al-Gohary notwithstanding, the chances are good that the brothers will be doing so in the shade of the pyramids.

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#11

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:32 pm

The Holy Peninsula: Letter from Brother Abdullah

Praise be to Allah who has allowed us to bulldoze all signs of idolatry including the houses of Sahaba and the graves of the Baqee Cemetery to make room for the amenities of a pious and modern life, including Dior and Nina Ricci. Salutations to the Creator who has blessed us with asphalt which is more powerful than sand and with which we can build large squares and piazzas, ideal for the public execution of Bangladeshi infidels and Sudanese witches, to the blessed recitation of Qari Al-Ghamdi.

Dear Brother in Islam,

The enemies of the Ummah are hard at work in the region. Right across the Arabian Gulf, the heretics and traitors of Islam are busy building a nuclear bomb in the satanic city of Bushehr. This has raised alarm in both holy cities of Islam of which Yours Truly is a servant. (Both Tel Aviv and Washington).

We need to fight the forces arrayed against Islam at every level. No, not in Gaza but in Damascus, Aleppo, Teheran and Manama. We need to hire soldiers of Islam from Jhelum district and deploy them in Bahrain to fire live rounds on the infidels demanding the right to vote in the municipal election and to freely choose how they manage their solid waste.

Dear Brother, (May Allah bless you with a large numbers of iPhones to give to distinguished journalists), these demands are against the basic precepts of Islam and against the traditions of the Holy Peninsula. They will be crushed with the full force of our slave army, hired on generous terms from the Islamic Republic.

The day is not far when you will sit on the throne of the Islamic Republic. Dear Brother, when that auspicious moment transpires, you must allocate the agricultural lands of the Republic to the Kingdom for mechanized farming. We will generously hire the displaced farmers as domestic help in the Kingdom, as long as they do not belong to the heretic sects. Also, you must allocate the divisions of Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan as the hunting grounds for the pious princes from the Holy Peninsula so that they can eliminate the menace of Houbara bustard from these lands to put them on the path to progress.

As the holy oil gushes forth from the holy Ras Tanura, the proceeds will be spent to promote the path of righteousness in the world, including the roulette tables in Monte Carlo and mountain retreats in Denver, Colorado.

May Allah bless the House of Saud. May He grant us protection from the heretics, idolators, witches, Bangladeshis, Zionists and Sudairis.

Your Brother from The Holy Peninsula

Al Malik Al Abdullah ibn Saud

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#12

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:08 pm

WAKE UP MUSLIMS! Say NO to Salafi destruction of Islam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA0H4UW ... ata_player

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#13

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:55 pm

Redevelopment of Mecca: Bulldozers bear down on site of Mohamed’s birth

Fresh plans are being drawn up to erect a modern complex on the site of what scholars of Islam contend is the birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed as part of a sweeping multi-billion-dollar redevelopment of the pilgrimage city of Mecca that has already ravaged many sacred sites and structures.

If approved, the project, details of which have been obtained by The Independent, would entail the demolition of a small library steps away from the Masjid al-Haram, or Grand Mosque, which sits directly on top of what are believed to be the remains of the house of the Prophet’s birth.

For critics, the destruction of the Mawlid House would be the final straw. “The last remaining historical site in the kingdom is the birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed, probably the most important site to the Muslim and Shia community around the world,” Dr Irfan al-Alawi, a historian and executive director of the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation said. “Most people are not even aware there are plans now to destroy it.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 42458.html

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#14

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Thu Jul 03, 2014 6:13 pm

Mecca for the rich: Islam's holiest site 'turning into Vegas'

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 thenused 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 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 Wahabis, they are inscribed with the names of the Prophet's companions. Ottomon Mecca is now rapidly disappearing

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

For many years, hardline Wahabi clerics have had their sites 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.

Behind closed doors – in places where the religious police cannot listen in – residents of Mecca are beginning to refer to their city as Las Vegas, and the moniker is not a compliment.

Over the past 10 years the holiest site in Islam has undergone a huge transformation, one that has divided opinion among Muslims all over the world.

Once a dusty desert town struggling to cope with the ever-increasing number of pilgrims arriving for the annual Hajj, the city now soars above its surroundings with a glittering array of skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels.

To the al-Saud monarchy, Mecca is their vision of the future – a steel and concrete metropolis built on the proceeds of enormous oil wealth that showcases their national pride.

Yet growing numbers of citizens, particularly those living in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have looked on aghast as the nation's archaeological heritage is trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own heritage. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Mohamed insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, critics say, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city's raison d'être.

Few are willing to discuss their fears openly because of the risks associated with criticising official policy in the authoritarian kingdom. And, with the exceptions of Turkey and Iran, fellow Muslim nations have largely held their tongues for fear of a diplomatic fallout and restrictions on their citizens' pilgrimage visas. Western archaeologists are silent out of fear that the few sites they are allowed access to will be closed to them.

But a number of prominent Saudi archaeologists and historians are speaking up in the belief that the opportunity to save Saudi Arabia's remaining historical sites is closing fast.

"No one has the balls to stand up and condemn this cultural vandalism," says Dr Irfan al-Alawi who, as executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, has fought in vain to protect his country's historical sites. "We have already lost 400-500 sites. I just hope it's not too late to turn things around."

Sami Angawi, a renowned Saudi expert on the region's Islamic architecture, is equally concerned. "This is an absolute contradiction to the nature of Mecca and the sacredness of the house of God," he told the Reuters news agency earlier this year. "Both [Mecca and Medina] are historically almost finished. You do not find anything except skyscrapers."

Dr Alawi's most pressing concern is the planned £690m expansion of the Grand Mosque, the most sacred site in Islam which contains the Kaaba – the black stone cube built by Ibrahim (Abraham) that Muslims face when they pray.

Construction officially began earlier this month with the country's Justice Minister, Mohammed al-Eissa, exclaiming that the project would respect "the sacredness and glory of the location, which calls for the highest care and attention of the servants or Islam and Muslims".

The 400,000 square metre development is being built to accommodate an extra 1.2 million pilgrims each year and will turn the Grand Mosque into the largest religious structure in the world. But the Islamic Heritage Foundation has compiled a list of key historical sites that they believe are now at risk from the ongoing development of Mecca, including the old Ottoman and Abbasi sections of the Grand Mosque, the house where the Prophet Mohamed was born and the house where his paternal uncle Hamza grew up.

There is little argument that Mecca and Medina desperately need infrastructure development. Twelve million pilgrims visit the cities every year with the numbers expected to increase to 17 million by 2025.

But critics fear that the desire to expand the pilgrimage sites has allowed the authorities to ride roughshod over the area's cultural heritage. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of Mecca's millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone.

The destruction has been aided by Wahabism, the austere interpretation of Islam that has served as the kingdom's official religion ever since the al-Sauds rose to power across the Arabian Peninsula in the 19th century.

In the eyes of Wahabis, historical sites and shrines encourage "shirq" – the sin of idolatry or polytheism – and should be destroyed. When the al-Saud tribes swept through Mecca in the 1920s, the first thing they did was lay waste to cemeteries holding many of Islam's important figures. They have been destroying the country's heritage ever since. Of the three sites the Saudis have allowed the UN to designate World Heritage Sites, none are related to Islam.

Those circling the Kaaba only need to look skywards to see the latest example of the Saudi monarchy's insatiable appetite for architectural bling. At 1,972ft, the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, opened earlier this year, soars over the surrounding Grand Mosque, part of an enormous development of skyscrapers that will house five-star hotels for the minority of pilgrims rich enough to afford them.

To build the skyscraper city, the authorities dynamited an entire mountain and the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress that lay on top of it. At the other end of the Grand Mosque complex, the house of the Prophet's first wife Khadijah has been turned into a toilet block. The fate of the house he was born in is uncertain. Also planned for demolition are the Grand Mosque's Ottoman columns which dare to contain the names of the Prophet's companions, something hardline Wahabis detest.

For ordinary Meccans living in the mainly Ottoman-era town houses that make up much of what remains of the old city, development often means the loss of their family home.

Non-Muslims cannot visit Mecca and Medina, but The Independent was able to interview a number of citizens who expressed discontent over the way their town was changing. One young woman whose father recently had his house bulldozed described how her family was still waiting for compensation. "There was very little warning; they just came and told him that the house had to be bulldozed," she said.

Another Meccan added: "If a prince of a member of the royal family wants to extend his palace he just does it. No one talks about it in public though. There's such a climate of fear."

Dr Alawi hopes the international community will finally begin to wake up to what is happening in the cradle of Islam. "We would never allow someone to destroy the Pyramids, so why are we letting Islam's history disappear?"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 60114.html

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#15

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:11 pm

The Saudis have systematically destroyed every symbol of Islamic history, culture and heritage. A nation with no sense of history and no respect for its heritage is doomed to damnation and hopefully this would happen with the Saudis. But the damage they have done to the history and heritage of Islam is irreversible and permanent. Let us hope at least that the damage that they have caused to the Muslim psyche with their bigoted and perverse version of Islam can be reversed.

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#16

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Sun Nov 23, 2014 5:29 pm

Historical Landmarks Threatened by Prophet’s Mosque Expansion

MADINAH — Power outage notices on the doors of a number of mosques including the historical Sajdah Mosque have left historians fearing that they might get demolished to make way for the Prophet’s Mosque expansion project, Makkah daily reported.

Local authorities erected notices to cut off the power from several mosques in areas of Madinah that have been marked for demolition.

Some of the marked mosques carry historical and Islamic significance that date back to the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) era.

Historians and concerned citizens are unsure whether the expansion project plans include renovation of the mosques, taking into account their architectural heritage, or to demolish them completely.

Among the mosques that could be demolished are the Ijabah Mosque and the Sajdah Mosque, also known as the Shukur Mosque.

The Sajdah Mosque is where the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed Sujud Ash-Shukur (prostrating to Allah in order to express gratitude).

The mosque is located near the public transport stop north of the Prophet’s Mosque.

Both the Sajdah and Ijabah Mosques are classified by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities as historical Islamic landmarks.

Abdullah Kabir, Madinah landmarks researcher, said the expansion project must consult expert architects to ensure the preservation of the Sajdah Mosque’s architectural identity.

Preserving the historical significance of buildings in Madinah is considered complimentary to the expansion project’s vision and not an obstacle against modernization, he said.

He said: “Al-Sajdah Mosque is not just a praying location. “Imam Al-Bayhaqi and others confirmed the Prophet has performed sujud in this mosque.

“The mosque has a long history of preservation that started from the first Hijri century during the time of the Umayyad Caliph Umar Bin Abdul Aziz. The last renovation of the mosque was during the late King Fahd’s time.” — Saudi Gazette

http://caravandaily.com/portal/historic ... expansion/

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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#17

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Sat Feb 21, 2015 7:32 pm

PROPHECY: " When the belly of Makkah will be cleft open..."

It is narrated by Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar that the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
When the belly of Makkah will be cleft open and through it will be dug out river-like passages (i.e. tunnels) and the buildings of the Holy City of Makkah will rise higher than its mountains, when you observe these signs, then understand that the time of trial is near at hand.”

The above hadith prophesying the state of Makkah towards the end of time reads more like an eyewitness account from an alien-like future. No concerted attempt has ever been made in Islamic history to claim that this hadith speaks for that time… until now when, much like a camera suddenly coming into focus, we can suddenly see what our beloved Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was warning us about. When taken together with several other ahadith, including the famous Hadith of Jibril which speaks of the coming of the Day of Judgment being when you see poor, naked, barefoot shepherds of sheep and goats competing in constructing tall buildings, one sees a distinct pattern. This is especially so when combined with the current list of vainglorious monuments to the hubris of the ruling classes over much of the Arab world:

• World’s tallest skyscraper: Burj Al Khalifa, Dubai, UAE
• World’s tallest clock tower: Abraj Al Bait Towers, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
• World’s tallest lighthouse: Jeddah Light, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• World’s tallest minaret: Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco.

• When reading this one wonders whether those in power in those countries (or their advisors) have ever heard these ahadith and, if so, why have they gone ahead to build these follies, in most cases dedicated to their own pride?


http://www.ummahpulse.com/2012/06/th...r-of-prophecy/
في أَخْبَارُ مَكَّةَ لِلْفَاكِهِيِّ، ذِكْرُ تَفَجُّرِ مَكَّةَ بِالأَنْهَارِ وَمَا يُكْرَهُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ، 1725 حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بِشْرٍ بَكْرُ بْنُ خَلَفٍ قَالَ: ثنا الْمُؤَمَّلُ، قَالَ: ثنا شُعْبَةُ، قَالَ: ثنا يَعْلَى بْنُ عَطَاءٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ: قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَمْرِو بْنِ الْعَاصِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا: “إِذَا رَأَيْتَ مَكَّةَ قَدْ بُعِجَتْ كِظَامًا وَرَأَيْتَ الْبِنَاءَ قَدْ عَلا عَلَى رُءُوسِ الْجِبَالِ، فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الأَمْرَ قَدْ أَظَلَّكَ

It is narrated by Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar that the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
“When the belly of Makkah will be cleft open and through it will be dug out river-like passages (i.e. tunnels) and the buildings of the Holy City of Makkah will rise higher than its mountains, when you observe these signs, then understand that the time of trial is near at hand.”

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#18

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Mon May 25, 2015 5:13 pm

City in the sky: world's biggest hotel to open in Mecca

The holy city is fast becoming a Las Vegas for pilgrims, thanks to the new £2.3bn megahotel that has four helipads, five floors for Saudi royalty – and 10,000 bedrooms

Four helipads will cluster around one of the largest domes in the world, like sideplates awaiting the unveiling of a momentous main course, which will be jacked up 45 storeys into the sky above the deserts of Mecca. It is the crowning feature of the holy city’s crowning glory, the superlative summit of what will be the world’s largest hotel when it opens in 2017.

With 10,000 bedrooms and 70 restaurants, plus five floors for the sole use of the Saudi royal family, the £2.3bn Abraj Kudai is an entire city of five-star luxury, catering to the increasingly high expectations of well-heeled pilgrims from the Gulf.

Modelled on a “traditional desert fortress”, seemingly filtered through the eyes of a Disneyland imagineer with classical pretensions, the steroidal scheme comprises 12 towers teetering on top of a 10-storey podium, which houses a bus station, shopping mall, food courts, conference centre and a lavishly appointed ballroom.

Located in the Manafia district, just over a mile south of the Grand Mosque, the complex is funded by the Saudi Ministry of Finance and designed by the Dar Al-Handasah group, a 7,000-strong global construction conglomerate that turns its hand to everything from designing cities in Kazakhstan to airports in Dubai. For the Abraj Kudai, it has followed the wedding-cake pastiche style of the city’s recent hotel boom: cornice is piled upon cornice, with fluted pink pilasters framing blue-mirrored windows, some arched with a vaguely Ottoman air. The towers seem to be packed so closely together that guests will be able to enjoy views into each other’s rooms.

“The city is turning into Mecca-hattan,” says Irfan Al-Alawi, director of the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, which campaigns to try to save what little heritage is left in Saudi Arabia’s holy cities. “Everything has been swept away to make way for the incessant march of luxury hotels, which are destroying the sanctity of the place and pricing normal pilgrims out.”

The Grand Mosque is now loomed over by the second tallest building in the world, the Abraj al-Bait clocktower, home to thousands more luxury hotel rooms, where rates can reach £4,000 a night for suites with the best views of the Kaaba – the black cube at the centre of the mosque around which Muslims must walk. The hotel rises 600m (2,000ft) into the air, projecting a dazzling green laser-show by night, on a site where an Ottoman fortress once stood – razed for development, along with the hill on which it sat.

The list of heritage crimes goes on, driven by state-endorsed Wahhabism, the hardline interpretation of Islam that perceives historical sites as encouraging sinful idolatry – which spawned the ideology that is now driving Isis’s reign of destruction in Syria and Iraq. In Mecca and Medina, meanwhile, anything that relates to the prophet could be in the bulldozer’s sights. The house of Khadijah, his first wife, was crushed to make way for public lavatories; the house of his companion Abu Bakr is now the site of a Hilton hotel; his grandson’s house was flattened by the king’s palace. Moments from these sites now stands a Paris Hilton store and a gender-segregated Starbucks.

“These are the last days of Mecca,” says Alawi. “The pilgrimage is supposed to be a spartan, simple rite of passage, but it has turned into an experience closer to Las Vegas, which most pilgrims simply can’t afford.”

The city receives around 2 million pilgrims for the annual Hajj, but during the rest of the year more than 20 million visit the city, which has become a popular place for weddings and conferences, bringing in annual tourism revenue of around £6bn. The skyline bristles with cranes, summoning thickets of hotel towers to accommodate the influx. Along the western edge of the city the Jabal Omar development now rises, a sprawling complex that will eventually accommodate 100,000 people in 26 luxury hotels – sitting on another gargantuan plinth of 4,000 shops and 500 restaurants, along with its own six-storey prayer hall.

The Grand Mosque, meanwhile, is undergoing a £40bn expansion to double the capacity of its prayer halls – from 3 million worshippers currently to nearly 7 million by 2040. Planned like a vast triangular slice of cake, the extension goes so far back that most worshippers won’t even be able to see the Kaaba.

“It is just like an airport terminal,” says Alawi. “People have been finding they’re praying in the wrong direction because they simply don’t know which way the mosque is any more. It has made a farce of the whole place.”

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign ... e_btn_link

Biradar
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#19

Unread post by Biradar » Tue May 26, 2015 1:44 am

It seems that the Salafi/Wahhabis (may Allah's wrath and curse be on them, and may the burn in the hottest part of hell) are doing a fine job of destroying Islam from within. Pretty soon all of the key historical sites of Islam will be erased, buried under billions of dollars of tourism. No spirituality will remain in any of the acts of the hajj, with rich "pilgrims" in a hurry to go shopping and the poor devout ones unable to afford to come close to the Kaaba. Shame on these thugs and those who support them.

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#20

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:14 pm

Shias of Lucknow protest against demolition of Holy sites in Saudi Arabia and file an appeal in letters of blood to build a mausoleum above Fatema-tus-Zehra (a.s.) shrine in Jannatul Baqi.

Image

fayyaaz
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#21

Unread post by fayyaaz » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:42 pm

Mon Jul 27, 2015 1:09 am (PDT) . Posted by: "Mohammed Sadikali"

Subject: Fwd: Saudis say No to the Prophet Muhammad, Yes to Paris Hilton

The god of these troglodyte ruling elites is lucre and materialism. These shameless troglodytes have lost every once of decency and now allow the worst of the worst which is not even allowed in the West. What can you say! They squander national wealth in building umpteen golden palaces, studded with diamonds on land, sea and air all over the world and fund insurrections all over the Ummah which has brought the Ummah to the dark ages from being the most educated and prosperous nations in the region. Accomplices to these most heinous crimes are as guilty as the criminals.

And while this continues to happen, the rest of the Muslim world is busy fighting over silly things ...

http://archives.religionnews.com/blogs/ ... ris-hilton

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#22

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Sun Oct 04, 2015 5:23 pm

The Destruction of Mecca

How Saudi Arabia’s construction rampage is threatening Islam’s holiest city.

On Sept. 11, amid heavy winds and stormy conditions, a red-and-white Liebherr construction crane — one of the tallest in the world — smashed into the Grand Mosque of Mecca, Islam’s holiest house of worship. At least 107 people died in the accident, which injured more than 200 others. Most of the victims were pilgrims, gathering in the mosque ahead of the evening prayer. Social media videos reveal scenes of graphic chaos: a sudden crash, followed by panicked worshipers running for safety. Images of the aftermath show blood-spattered marble and stained carpets among the wreckage.

The cranes ringing the Grand Mosque and the Kaaba, Islam’s central monument, are part of Saudi Arabia’s aggressive campaign of construction and development in the holy city. Over the past two decades, as the number of worshipers flocking to Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage ballooned from 1.2 million in 1997 to 2.9 million in 2011, the kingdom brought in the heavy machinery, building opulent new hotels, roads, and vast expansions to the mosque complex. But as this year’s Hajj gets underway this week, the latest tragedy raises new questions about Mecca’s preparedness for the influx of pilgrims, as well as the integrity of Saudi Arabia’s grand plans and the steep cost — material, cultural, and now human — at which they’re being realized.

Roughly 100 cranes still surround the Grand Mosque as part of the expansion project, according to local sources. They stand unmoved in the face of the recent disaster and the prospect of over 2.5 million pedestrian pilgrims massing at the shrine. “The cranes are still there, situated in an area that’s accessible to the public,” said Irfan al-Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation and a vocal critic of Saudi Arabia’s construction plans. “What happens if bad weather comes again?”

The holy sites have been host to senseless tragedy before. In years past, stampedes have led to hundreds of pilgrims’ deaths. Some of those incidents motivated Mecca’s current expansion projects. But whatever their intention, these developments — estimated to cost over $26 billion, not including a reported $35 billion for the real estate alone — have generated controversy and even outrage from many quarters of the Muslim world.

The mosque expansion project, intended to accommodate an additional 1.6 million worshipers in the Grand Mosque, is just one element of this upgrade. The lavish Abraj al-Bait Towers, a hotel complex featuring shopping malls, a helipad, luxury residences, and the world’s largest clock face, is another. Its centerpiece, the Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower hotel, is the third-tallest building in the world, the size of six Big Bens, built at a cost of $15 billion. A new 10,000-room mega-hotel, set to become the biggest in the world when it opens in 2017, is Mecca’s next expansion target.

Despite these multibillion-dollar efforts, essential services in Mecca remain dangerously inadequate. The Ajyad Emergency Hospital adjacent to the Grand Mosque has only 52 beds. The slightly larger Al Noor Hospital is four miles away. Neither has a dedicated blood bank. Similarly, according to the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation’s Alawi, during a recent fire at a construction site, Mecca’s fire department had to call for assistance from the city of Taif, over an hour away, when its engines couldn’t handle the blaze.

With 2.5 million people descending on the holy city, these facilities are shockingly insufficient.

The additional cost of Mecca’s construction campaign, besides billions of dollars, has been what observers refer to as an assault on the city’s aesthetic and cultural character: Development has displaced or destroyed dozens of historic sites and shrines around the holy city — and incensed critics around the Muslim world.

The Ajyad Fortress, a sprawling stone citadel built in the Ottoman era, once overlooked the Grand Mosque from the crags of Mt. Bulbul south of the shrine, a bulwark for more than 200 years against threats of invasion and banditry. When construction crews leveled both the fortress and Mt. Bulbul in 2002, Turkey’s then-culture minister called the act a “cultural massacre.” The Makkah Clock Royal Tower now stands in their place.

Within the mosque complex, pillars dating back to the Abbasid era, many marking traditionally significant sites, have been torn down, ostensibly for being in the path of construction. As Sami Angawi, founder of the Hajj Research Centre, told the Guardian in 2012: “They are turning the holy sanctuary into a machine, a city which has no identity, no heritage, no culture, and no natural environment.”

Other historical sites relevant to the life of the Prophet Mohammed have also been demolished or built over in recent decades. A Hilton Hotel and a Burger King now stand over the house of the Prophet’s closest companion and Islam’s first caliph. The home of the Prophet’s wife, Khadija, is now the site of 1,400 public lavatories.

These actions, critics say, are the realization of the ultraconservative Salafi ideology of Wahhabism endorsed by the Saudi monarchy, in which historical and cultural trappings are gateways to the sin of associating divinity with anything other than God. The prescribed solution to those trappings in Wahhabi Salafism is, frequently, obliteration. “The plans could have been easily implemented and worked around the historical sites,” Alawi said, calling the destruction of traditional landmarks and historic sites “a deliberate cost.”

This demolition impulse can be found in Saudi Arabia’s origins: The Saudis leveled the long-standing mausoleums of the Prophet’s family and companions soon after they took control of Mecca and Medina in the 1920s, and their targeting of tombs and relics has scarcely abated since. Echoes of this iconoclastic compulsion reverberate in the Taliban’s demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas and, perhaps even more perniciously, the recent destruction of Palmyra and Assyrian antiquities by the Islamic State.

But unlike those demolitions, the Saudi actions have not targeted so-called “foreign” or “pagan” religions — they’ve targeted Muslim landmarks and Islamic history. As an ideology, Wahhabism is unblinkingly dismissive, even contemptuous, of the desires of many Muslims around the world to commemorate history and preserve context in the holy city. The imperious peak of the Makkah Tower — a gargantuan clock face capped by the word “Allah” — suits that philosophy, broadcasting its awareness of only two things: God and the present.

The cranes that have for years loomed over the Grand Mosque in the name of enhancing the safety and comfort of pilgrims to the holy city have now taken a human price on top of their financial and cultural toll. As worshipers gather for the Hajj just days after crews mopped blood from the mosque’s marble floor, Saudi Arabia continues to at once build and destroy, leaving Mecca’s history and heritage uncertain — and leaving pilgrims to wonder what this year’s pilgrimage will hold.

In the shadow of the 1,972-foot tower’s luxury suites, the black-draped monolith of the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, sits like a pebble in the rocky desert landscape.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/22/the ... struction/

ghulam muhammed
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#23

Unread post by ghulam muhammed » Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:11 pm

Saudi's Destruction Of The Islamic Heritage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpy5x7Nchck

AMAFHH
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#24

Unread post by AMAFHH » Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:03 am

Saudi Sheikh Nimr

Saudi Arabia has executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along with 47 others in defiance of international calls for the release of the prominent Shia cleric and other jailed political dissidents in the kingdom.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) and state television reported the executions Saturday, citing the kingdom’s Interior Ministry.

According to the Saudi ministry, those executed had been found guilty of being in “terrorism” and adopting a “Takfiri” ideology. All on the list of those killed are Saudi nationals except an Egyptian and a Chadian.

The Saudi Interior Ministry did not elaborate on the method to execute the convicts, but said they were executed Saturday in 12 cities across the country.

Sheikh Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was shot by Saudi police and arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom’s security, making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. He had rejected all the charges as baseless

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced Sheikh Nimr to death, provoking widespread global condemnations. The sentence was upheld last March by the appeal court of Saudi Arabia.


Saudis carry religious flags and signs, including a poster demanding freedom for Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, May 30, 2015. ©AP
Amnesty International also criticized the process of Sheikh Nimr’s trial and said it views the charges against the cleric as his right to free speech.

The death ruling sparked angry reactions from international rights bodies as well as many Muslim nations, including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and India, where people staged large protest rallies and called for the release of Sheikh Nimr as well as all political detainees in the kingdom.

Last October, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged Saudi rulers to revoke the cleric’s death verdict.

Human rights organizations have lashed out at Saudi Arabia for failing to address the rights situation in the kingdom. They say Saudi Arabia has persistently implemented repressive policies that stifle freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The new announcement comes a day after a tally by The Associated Press, which was based on reports by Amnesty International, showed Saudi Arabia had carried out 157 executions in 2015, most of which were beheading by sword. This is a record of the most capital punishments conducted in a single year since 1995.

Sheikh Nimr’s family ‘shocked’

Shocked by the news of his brother’s execution, Sheikh Nimr’s brother, Mohammad, slammed Riyadh’s decision, which he said, was a negative response to the Shia cleric’s pro-democracy demands, Arabic-language media reported him as saying.

He further expressed hope that the expected reactions to Sheikh Nimr’s death would be peaceful.

“Sheikh Nimr enjoyed high esteem in his community and within Muslim society in general and no doubt there will be reaction,” Mohammed al-Nimr told Reuters, adding, “We hope that any reactions would be confined to a peaceful framework…Enough bloodshed.”

The list of those executed on Saturday does not, however, include Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, the cleric’s nephew, who has also been sentenced to death over his alleged role in anti-regime protests in 2012, when he was 17 years old.

Many countries and human rights bodies have called for Ali Mohammed’s execution to be stopped.

Al-Noor
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#25

Unread post by Al-Noor » Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:01 am

worst is they are willing to kill more shia,

Saudi armored vehicles are headed to the restive city of Qatif in Eastern Province after the execution of prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a report says.
Hundreds of anti-riot personnel carriers set off for the city on Saturday to quell any potential protest on the part of its Shia population against the execution, according to Lebanon’s Al Ahd news website.
Security forces have also been alerted in other Shia-populated cities across Saudi Arabia.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Nimr’s execution, who was put to death alongside 47 others, earlier in the day, citing the kingdom’s Interior Ministry.
The ministry said those executed had been found guilty of involvement in “terrorism.”
Following the implementation of the cleric’s death sentence, all security outposts were evacuated across the country and all police stations shut down amid fears of Shia outrage.
An outspoken critic of Riyadh’s policies, Nimr was shot and arrested by the Saudi police in the Qatif region of the kingdom’s Shia-dominated Eastern Province in 2012.
He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom’s security, making anti-government speeches, and defending political prisoners. He had rejected all the charges as baseless.
In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced the clergyman to death, provoking widespread global condemnations.
The sentence was upheld last March by the appeal court of Saudi Arabia. Back at the time, UK-based rights body Amnesty International called the sentence “appalling,” saying the verdict should be quashed since it was politically motivated.

qutub_mamajiwala
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#26

Unread post by qutub_mamajiwala » Mon Jan 04, 2016 7:18 am

you are totally wrong bro
they head the human right council of UNO

Al-Noor
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Re: Wahhabis vandalize the Cradle of Islam

#27

Unread post by Al-Noor » Mon Jan 04, 2016 10:10 am

old joke but still makes sense today...

Wahabi: tujhe pata hain wahabi ki yeh taqat hain ki hum jaha hote hain waha shaitaan kabhi nahi hota.

Sunni: haan bhai jaha abba mojud ho waha betaa kyaa karengaa. :lol: