The destruction of Mecca: Saudi hardliners are wiping out their own herita

[emad]

The destruction of Mecca: Saudi hardliners are wiping out their own heritage
By Daniel Howden
Published: 06 August 2005

Historic Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is being buried in an unprecedented onslaught by religious zealots.

Almost all of the rich and multi-layered history of the holy city is gone. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades.

Now the actual birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed is facing the bulldozers, with the connivance of Saudi religious authorities whose hardline interpretation of Islam is compelling them to wipe out their own heritage.

It is the same oil-rich orthodoxy that pumped money into the Taliban as they prepared to detonate the Bamiyan buddhas in 2000. And the same doctrine - violently opposed to all forms of idolatry - that this week decreed that the Saudis' own king be buried in an unmarked desert grave.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article304029.ece

[theophilus]

1. WOW! We are sure lucky that this same kind of religious

zealotry is not destroying our own count...r...y....oh wait, ...............never mind.

[kodi]

2. there is actual wisdom in it. it prevents cults of personality

.

[theophilus]

5. I see that, but it also tends to wipe out a sense of community and

a foundation of communal history. Should we bulldoze Mt. Vernon because someone might "idolize" George Washington? I mean, keep it in perspective. I quess there is no cult of personality around Bin Laden? Yeah, right!

[kodi]

7. it stems from having no graven images of Allah

it releases the faithful from corporeal symbolism and demands the focus be on the mystical aspect of faith.

so too for historical buildings that represent a physical link to the past. but taken to its logical conclusion, mecca ought not to be a pilgrimage site either and the kaaba stone ground into dust.

[NYC]

3. Will the Kabba also be declared a symbol of idolatry?

[niallmac]

4. Hmnmm. Confusing article.

Too popular. Too commercial? Profiteering off the pilgrims? Such is the history of Mecca, Medina and lucky Jeddah. Pilgrimage sites, and the roads leading there are very profitable.
This is true in Christianity as well. Mecca approximate was a holy site before Mohammed PBUH. It was a site for honoring the moon god who by the way was female per my brief readings on the subject. The Saudi government has re built the buildings in Mecca in order that they survive the human onslaught of believers in the largest, fastest growing religion on the planet. I have no idea what the author is ranting about. Mecca is going to disappear? I don't think so unless it's due to one of our nut job Colorado reps.
Very weird how the country actually fences off or destroys pre islamic archeological sites. I lived in KSA for a short bit and saw a few examples. Do I think this is an example of how fanatical islam is so backward compared to Christianity? All I can think of is how fortunate I was to see the actual workings of a process that brought us the Dark Ages. The same. The very same mind set.

[Glorfindel]

6. PBUH..?

[moof]

8. PBUH - Peace be upon him

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Primarily used with reference to Prophet Mohamed - Peace be upon him

In some cases it is also used in conjunction with female deities to mean Peace Be Upon Her.

[TankLV]

9. Don't forget asscraps curtains.