The Pak SC orders demolition of illegally built Mosques: Mr Asaddudin Owaisi what’s Your Take on it: Lalit K Kaul
The Pak SC orders demolition of illegally built
Mosques: Mr Asaddudin Owaisi what’s Your Take on it
Lalit K Kaul
Mr. Asaddudin Owaisi beat his chest when the SC of
India decreed that Ram Temple be built in Ayodhya at the place where once Babri
Mosque existed. In his public address he, gesticulating as if he was likewise
in anguish and pain of a mother who had lost her child, asked for his “Allah’s
Ghar” to be returned to him. While in the Holy Quran it is stated in a verse
“Look to the East Look to the West Look anywhere Allah is everywhere”;
explicitly asserting that He is omnipresent, but Mr Owaisi’s Allah resided only
in Babri Masjid as one would make out from his so called cry of agony.
The birthplace of Islam has a history of demolition
of mosques and other places of heritage that date back to the days of the
Prophet Muhammad; excerpts from reports in well known dailies and magazine are
reproduced in the sequel in regard to such demolitions. The reason for such
demolitions is not important what is that mosques were either demolished or
were in the pipeline for demolition. That even the mosques built by Prophet
Muhammad and wherein the Prophet had offered prayers were demolished, is indicative
of the fact that mosque may not necessarily be a prerequisite for offering
prayers (Namaz).
Not to be left behind, the SC, of the Islamic State
of Pakistan, ordered that all illegally built mosques be demolished and post
the SC decree two mosques have already been demolished.
So the question that begs an answer is: Why does it
become communal when the CM of the Indian State of UP decrees that all mosques
built in an unauthorised ways be demolished? The fact that even such temples
were demolished in his regime is conveniently forgotten.
Mr Asaddudin Owaisi: Will you scream publicly in
agony on the decree of the SC of Pak and such acts of demolition in the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia? Or, did your Allah reside only in Babri Mosque?
“Saudi Arabia, in
which Wahabism 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 to the Bedouin kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After the
conquest of Mecca and Medina in the mid-1920s Saudis went on an orgy of
destruction. They bulldozed and levelled the oldest cemetery “Jannat
al-Baqi” or “Heavenly Orchard” in Medina that included graves of the Prophet
Muhammad’s son Abraham and daughter Fatima, as well as numerous of the
Prophet’s relatives and companions. The 8th of Shawwal is the day of sorrow,
also known as Yaum-e-Gham. This day is commemorated by Shia Muslims as the
day Saudi King ‘Abdul Aziz in 1923 demolished Al-Baqi cemetery in Medina. The
destruction took place on April 21, 1926. Since 1205 Wahabis tried to conquer
Mecca and Medina. However, after the conquest of Mecca and Medina (1218-1221),
Wahabis destroyed all sacred places, including the Al-Baqi. They attempted to
destroy the Prophet’s Mosque and tomb, but due to extreme pressure, the ideal
was abandoned. Over the years many sacred sites were re-build, but again in
1924 Wahabis with outside help entered Hijaz for the second time to massacre
and demolished the Islamic heritage sites except the shrine of the Prophet
Muhammad.”
Excerpts from: 126 mosques to be demolished in Madinah by
Staff Reporter, Arabian Business, 13 10 2014
“More than 100
mosques will be demolished to make way for an expansion of the largest mosque
in Medina, Islam’s second holiest city, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and
Endowments said, according to the Saudi Gazette. Ninety-five properties and 126 mosques in total will be razed
for the project, which follows an historic $20 billion renovation and expansion
of the Grand Mosque in Makah. Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam, is undertaking a
massive redevelopment of the two holy cities to increase the number of pilgrims
that can perform Umrah and Haj at one time.”
Excerpts from: Saudi Arabia Bulldozes Over Its
Heritage by Carla Power, TIME, 14 11 2014
“Over the last few years, mosques and key sites dating
from the time of Muhammad have been knocked down or destroyed, as have
Ottoman-era mansions, ancient wells and stone bridges. Over 98% of the
Kingdom’s historical and religious sites have been destroyed since 1985, estimates the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in London.
“It’s as if they wanted to wipe out history,” says Ali Al-Ahmed, of the
Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Though the Saudi rulers have a long history of destroying
historical sites, activists say the pace and range of destruction has recently
increased. A few months ago, the house of Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle,
was flattened to make way for a Meccan hotel, according to Irfan Al Alawi,
executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. There have even
been rumored threats to Muhammad’s tomb in Medina and his birthplace in
Mecca.
A 61-page report, published recently in Saudi Arabia’s
Journal of the Royal Presidency, suggested separating the Prophet’s tomb from
Medina’s mosque, a task “that would amount to its destruction,” Alawi says.
“You can’t move it without destroying it.” Moreover, he alleges, plans for a
new palace for King Abdullah threaten the library atop the site traditionally
identified as the birthplace of Muhammad. Even now, signs in four languages
warn visitors that there is no proof that the Prophet Muhammad was born there,
“so it is forbidden to make this place specific for praying, supplicating or
get [sic] blessing.”
Wahabism, the prevailing Saudi strain of Islam, frowns on
visits to shrines, tombs or religio-historical sites, on grounds that they
might lead to Islam’s gravest sin: worshipping anyone other than God. In recent
years, the twin forks of Wahabi doctrine and urban development have speared
most physical reminders of Islamic history in the heart of Mecca. The house of
the Prophet’s first wife, Khadijah has made way for public toilets. A Hilton hotel stands on the site of the house of Islam’s first
caliph, Abu Bakr. Famously, the Kaaba now stands in the shade of one of the
world’s tallest buildings, the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, part of a complex built
by the Bin Laden Group, boasting a 5-story shopping mall, luxury hotels and a
parking garage.
It’s not just in Mecca, either. Over a year ago, the split
in Mount Uhud, north of Medina, where Muhammad was said to have been carried
after being wounded in the famous Battle of Uhud was filled with concrete. A
fence went up at the base of the mountain, warning would-be visitors that it
was just a mountain, like any other. Six small mosques in Medina where Muhammad
is believed to have prayed have been locked. The seventh, belonging to Islam’s
first caliph Abu Bakr, has been razed to make way for an ATM. Nawwab, along
with a small group of historians and activists, has tried to raise awareness by
photographing sites and starting a Twitter campaign, but says “it’s a losing
battle, despite the fact that what’s being lost is not just Muslim history, but
human history.””
Mr. Asaddudin Owaisi the Indian Muslims cannot be greater
followers of Islam than the Arabs and certainly cannot teach the Saudis what
Islam is all about. So, why the precedence – in regard to mosques- set by the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should not be followed elsewhere
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