Saudi Arabia deliberately destroying its culture

[Zostrianos]

I discovered this recently that Saudi Arabia's fanatical Wahhabi rulers have a deliberate policy aimed at destroying their country's historical sites and relics (ironically, most of them Islamic), because their veneration is against their interpretation of Islam. Not only are they wiping out their history, they're selling it out to capitalist multinationals, building hotels and commercial buildings atop ancient sites. If you thought the Taliban were evil, think again.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/mcmecca-the-strange-alliance-of-clerics-and-businessmen-in-saudi-arabia/274146/

It is not surprising that commercial interests are flocking to the city: Approximately 2.4 million pilgrims visited Mecca in 2008, and some estimate that the number could rise to 20 million within the next few years. But developers and retailers have found an unlikely ally in Wahhabi clerics, who consider the veneration of historical sites to be a form of idolatry, and are happy to see all them demolished.
"It is not permitted to glorify buildings and historical sites," proclaimed Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, then the kingdom's highest religious authority, in a much-publicized fatwa in 1994. "Such action would lead to polytheism. ... [S]o it is necessary to reject such acts and to warn others away from them."
A pamphlet published last year by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, endorsed by Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and distributed at the Prophet's Mosque, where Mohammed, Abu Bakr, and the Islamic Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab are buried, reads, "The green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Mosque," according to Irfan Al Alawi, executive director of the London-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. This shocking sentiment was echoed in a speech by the late Muhammad ibn Al Uthaymeen, one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent Wahhabi clerics, who delivered sermons in Mecca's Grand Mosque for over 35 years: "We hope one day we'll be able to destroy the green dome of the Prophet Mohammed," he said, in a recording provided by Al Alawi.
The unholy alliance means that a handful of archeologists and conservationists, as well as foreign NGOs, are the only voices trying to prevent the destruction of these sites. The recent demolitions at the Grand Mosque are just the latest victims of this intersection of commercial and religious interests:

Sami Angawi, the founder and former director of Mecca's Hajj Research Center and the most vocal opponent of the destruction of Mecca's historic sites ... estimates that over 300 antiquity sites in Mecca and Medina have already been destroyed , such as the house of the first caliph, Abu Bakr, which was leveled to make room for the Mecca Hilton Hotel. (According to Ivor McBurney, a spokesman for Hilton, "We saw the tremendous opportunities to tap into Saudi Arabia's religious tourism segment.")
Over protests by groups like the Islamic Supreme Council of America and the Muslim Canadian Congress, [B]Saudi authorities have authorized the destruction of hundreds of antiquities, such as an important eighteenth-century Ottoman fortress in Mecca that was razed to make way for the Abraj Al Bait Towers-- a move the Turkish foreign minister condemned as "cultural genocide." An ancient house belonging to Mohammed was recently razed to make room for, among other developments, a public toilet facility. An ancient mosque belonging to Abu Bakr has now been replaced by an ATM machine. And the sites of Mohammed's historic battles at Uhud and Badr have been, with a perhaps unconscious nod to Joni Mitchell, paved to put up a parking lot. The remaining historical religious sites in Mecca can be counted on one hand and will likely not make it much past the next hajj, Angawi says: "It is incredible how little respect is paid to the house of God."

According to the Washington-based Gulf Institute, almost 95 percent of Mecca's millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone. When I questioned Habib Zain Al Abideen, the Saudi deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs, head of all the kingdom's hajj-related construction projects, about the destruction of historical sites in Mecca, he seemed unconcerned about their religious significance. More important to him was that the hajj was "a good opportunity to visit Mecca and Medina, do some shopping, make a vacation out of it."
What surprises me is why they haven't demolished the Ka'aba yet. If you follow their twisted logic, it's the first place they should have razed.

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_early_Islamic_heritage_sites
http://www.nairaland.com/1096368/al-saud-regime-saudi-arabia-destroy

[Paul Pott]

Speechless.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I guess it doesn't really count as idolatry if the object of veneration is the Almighty Dollar.

If I was a believer, I'd be sick to my stomach. As it is, I'm flabbergasted by the readiness with which Arab/Muslim heritage is being destroyed in the peninsula, by Saudi hands no less.

Also, the Abraj Al Bait is a hideously gaudy architectural nightmare:

http://i41.tinypic.com/2ziq4xj.jpg

Just look at that monstrosity. It dominates the local landscape, and not in a good way. Tall buildings with gold on them are tacky-looking eyesores.

[Zostrianos]

And not only that, when you consider all the money they waste on these things and unspeakable opulence (I saw a documentary once where they were interviewing a Saudi prince who had bathroom fixtures made of solid gold), with the millions of people wallowing in poverty and starving to death, it's even more monstrous

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Don't the Saudis use a lot of immigrant labour to build their projects? Immigrant labour which seems pretty close to indentured servitude, if not outright slavery.

[Zostrianos]

Don't the Saudis use a lot of immigrant labour to build their projects? Immigrant labour which seems pretty close to indentured servitude, if not outright slavery.

Yeah they bring in people from south Asian countries (like India and Sri Lanka), then they confiscate their passports (and it's usually their bosses who do this) and force them to work with the threat that they won't be able to return to their home countries. And they're usually mistreated by their employers (I even read of housemaids being beaten to death). Sometimes the authorities make up fake charges against them (like witchcraft), and have them executed:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/13/saudi-arabia-treatment-foreign-workers

[pax et aequalitas]

I do wonder: Is there no significant opposition to all this from religious people themselves? I mean I understand that the ones in power at least claim they see it all as idolatry, but I can imagine that a lot of muslims would themselves be shocked to hear that they want to flatten their prophet's grave.

Besides that, as someone interested in both history (I wanna become a history teacher in fact) and other cultures and religions I find this really depressing news. The historical and cultural value of what is being destroyed is quite significant.

[khad]

I do wonder: Is there no significant opposition to all this from religious people themselves? I mean I understand that the ones in power at least claim they see it all as idolatry, but I can imagine that a lot of muslims would themselves be shocked to hear that they want to flatten their prophet's grave.

Besides that, as someone interested in both history (I wanna become a history teacher in fact) and other cultures and religions I find this really depressing news. The historical and cultural value of what is being destroyed is quite significant.
Wahhabism is neoliberalism exemplified.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/the-economic-vision-of-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-millionaires#p2


“The core of the economic vision of Brotherhood, if we are going to classify it in a classical way, is extreme capitalist,” says Sameh Elbarqy, a former member of the Brotherhood who parted ways with the group after he disagreed with its refusal to register as an official nongovernmental organization, which would have forced transparency. The FJP’s agenda emphasizes economic freedom. It claims to protect competition and prevent monopolies, which are against the tenets of Islam. The FJP says it would channel religious donations into official charities and use those funds to assist the poor, something the Brotherhood has already been doing for decades. It plans to address poverty, unemployment, and Egypt’s weak infrastructure through major (likely private) development projects in tourism, agriculture, and technology.

“Our vision is to become the pioneering institution that pushes the economy for a better standard of living,” Malek said in his speech at the gala. The goal of the new association, he said, would be to aid small and medium-size businesses, help young businessmen, and offer vocational training. EBDA resembles the business organizations of Turkey, which support and have benefited from the 10-year rule of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Malek has spent the last year reading about successful Asian economies such as Singapore and Malaysia, as well as the works of Galal Amin, an economist and critic of Egypt’s economic policies and the Western influence on the country. Amin’s most famous book is called Whatever Happened to the Egyptians? Malek says that while it’s helpful to understand the progress of other countries that were once in Egypt’s position, he believes the country will have to develop a model specific to its own flaws and strengths.http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/the-economic-vision-of-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-millionaires

You know that Al-Qaeda is full of shit when they aren't turning the lands of their wahhabist backers into smoldering craters.

[cynicles]

Thank einstein the rest of the arab world doesn't have wahhabyist nutjobs in control of it, can you imagine the reaction to the destruction of even more iconic monuments in egypt, syria and Iraq. Then again who needs wahhabyists when american occupation forces will loot and destroy ancient iraqi ruins for you?

[khad]

egypt, syria and Iraq
The Muslim Brotherhood already controls Egypt, and half of this forum is clamoring for wahhabists to take Syria.

[Zostrianos]

I do wonder: Is there no significant opposition to all this from religious people themselves? I mean I understand that the ones in power at least claim they see it all as idolatry, but I can imagine that a lot of muslims would themselves be shocked to hear that they want to flatten their prophet's grave.

I hear it's mainly muslims in other countries who protest. For some reason in Saudi Arabia itself there's very little outward opposition. I know a part of it is that the country is an oppressive theocracy and saying the wrong thing could get you killed, but it almost seems as though the millions of Muslims who go there view the Saudi government as infallible and quietly accept everything they do.


You know that Al-Qaeda is full of shit when they aren't turning the lands of their wahhabist backers into smoldering craters.

The main problem Al Qaeda has against the Saudi government is that they're US allies. Otherwise I think they see eye to eye on most things.


Thank einstein the rest of the arab world doesn't have wahhabyist nutjobs in control of it, can you imagine the reaction to the destruction of even more iconic monuments in egypt, syria and Iraq.?

You can bet the Pyramids and all those temples would be bulldozed in no time. Thankfully the muslim brotherhood are not Wahhabists, but they are dangerously close to them. And there are fanatics in Egypt itself who would love to see that happen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBJE6wUm-cA

[l'Enfermé]

I hear it's mainly muslims in other countries who protest. For some reason in Saudi Arabia itself there's very little outward opposition. I know a part of it is that the country is an oppressive theocracy and saying the wrong thing could get you killed, but it almost seems as though the millions of Muslims who go there view the Saudi government as infallible and quietly accept everything they do.
Saudi citizens are actually mostly Wahhabis, why would they oppose Wahhabism being put into practice? The Wahhabist clergy dominates every aspect of life and society in Saudi Arabia(most of the high-ranking members of the clergy, by the way, are actual descedents of al-Wahhab himself). It has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia being an "oppressive theocracy", the hegemony of Wahhabism is maintained by primarily ideological means, not by force.

[baz]

Saudi citizens are actually mostly Wahhabis, why would they oppose Wahhabism being put into practice? The Wahhabist clergy dominates every aspect of life and society in Saudi Arabia(most of the high-ranking members of the clergy, by the way, are actual descedents of al-Wahhab himself). It has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia being an "oppressive theocracy", the hegemony of Wahhabism is maintained by primarily ideological means, not by force.

the majority of people from the region known as hijaz (makkah and madinah) are culturally distinct from the rest of the area.

wahabism is a reactionary, noxious, heterodox (from the islamic theological point of view) ideology and the "arab spring" will be a complete farce so long as the saud family remains in control of the holiest sites in islam.