What has the Saudi government been up to at Mecca and Medina?

“Photographs obtained by The Independent reveal how workers with drills and mechanical diggers have started demolishing some Ottoman and Abbasid sections on the eastern side of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca”. Taken from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-photos-saudi-arabia-doesn-t-want-seen-and-proof-islams-most-holy-relics-are-being-demolished-in-mecca-8536968.html The photos Saudi Arabia doesn't want seen – and proof Islam's most holy relics are being demolished in Mecca Archaeologists fear billion-pound development has led to destruction of key historical sites Jerome Taylor Friday 15 March 2013 …. The authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun dismantling some of the oldest sections of Islam’s most important mosque as part of a highly controversial multi-billion pound expansion. Photographs obtained by The Independent reveal how workers with drills and mechanical diggers have started demolishing some Ottoman and Abbasid sections on the eastern side of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. The building, which is also known as the Grand Mosque, is the holiest site in Islam because it contains the Kaaba – the point to which all Muslims face when praying. The columns are the last remaining sections of the mosque which date back more than a few hundred years and form the inner perimeter on the outskirts of the white marble floor surrounding the Kaaba. The new photos … have caused alarm among archaeologists …. Many of the Ottoman and Abbasid columns in Mecca were inscribed with intricate Arabic calligraphy marking the names of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions and key moments in his life. One column which is believed to have been ripped down is supposed to mark the spot where Muslims believe Muhammad began his heavenly journey on a winged horse, which took him to Jerusalem and heaven in a single night. To accommodate the ever increasing number of pilgrims heading to the twin holy cities of Mecca and Medina each year the Saudi authorities have embarked upon a massive expansion project. Billions of pounds have been poured in to increase the capacity of the Masjid al-Haram and the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina which marks where Muhammad is buried. King Abdullah has put the prominent Wahabi cleric and imam of the Grand Mosque, Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, in charge of the expansion while the Saudi Binladin Group – one of the country’s largest firms – has won the construction contract. While there is little disagreement over the need to expand, critics have accused the Saudi regime of wantonly disregarding the archaeological, historical and cultural heritage of Islam’s two holiest cities. In the last decade Mecca has been transformed from a dusty desert pilgrimage town into a gleaming metropolis of skyscrapers that tower over the Masjid al-Haram and are filled with a myriad of shopping malls, luxury apartments and five star hotels. …. But such a transformation has come at a cost. 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. Dozens of key historical sites dating back to the birth of Islam have already been lost and there is a scramble among archaeologists and academics to try and encourage the authorities to preserve what little remains. Many senior Wahabis are vehemently against the preservation of historical Islamic sites that are linked to the prophet because they believe it encourages shirk – the sin of idol worshipping. But Dr Irfan al-Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation which obtained the new photographs from inside the Grand Mosque, says the removal of the Ottoman and Abbasid columns will leave future generations of Muslims ignorant of their significance. “It matters because many of these columns signified certain areas of the mosque where the Prophet sat and prayed,” he said. “The historical record is being deleted. A new Muslim would never have a clue because there’s nothing marking these locations now. There are ways you could expand Mecca and Medina while protecting the historical heritage of the mosque itself and the surrounding sites.” There are signs that King Abdullah has listened to concerns about the historical destruction of Mecca and Medina. Last October The Independent revealed how new plans for the masjid an-Nabawi in Medina would result in the destruction of three of the world’s oldest mosques on the west hand side of the main complex. However new plans approved by King Abdullah last week appear to show a change of heart with the bulk of the expansion now slated to take place to the north of the Masjid an-Nabawi. However key sites are still at risk. The Independent has obtained a presentation used by the Saudis to illustrate how the expansion of Mecca’s main mosque will look. In one of the slides it is clear that the Bayt al-Mawlid, an area which is believed to be the house where Muhammad was born in, will have to be removed unless plans change. The Independent asked the Saudi Embassy in London a number of questions about the expansion plans and why more was not being done to preserve key historical sites. They replied: “Thank you for calling, but no comment.” And we read at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/medina-saudis-take-a-bulldozer-to-islam-s-history-8228795.html Medina: Saudis take a bulldozer to Islam's history Authorities are building a mosque so big it will hold 1.6m people – but are demolishing irreplaceable monuments to do it Jerome Taylor Friday 26 October 2012 …. Three of the world’s oldest mosques are about to be destroyed as Saudi Arabia embarks on a multi-billion-pound expansion of Islam’s second holiest site. Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, where the Prophet Mohamed is buried, will start once the annual Hajj pilgrimage ends next month. When complete, the development will turn the mosque into the world’s largest building, with the capacity for 1.6 million worshippers. But concerns have been raised that the development will see key historic sites bulldozed. Anger is already growing at the kingdom’s apparent disdain for preserving the historical and archaeological heritage of the country’s holiest city, Mecca. Most of the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will take place to the west of the existing mosque, which holds the tombs of Islam’s founder and two of his closest companions, Abu Bakr and Umar. Just outside the western walls of the current compound are mosques dedicated to Abu Bakr and Umar, as well as the Masjid Ghamama, built to mark the spot where the Prophet is thought to have given his first prayers for the Eid festival. The Saudis have announced no plans to preserve or move the three mosques, which have existed since the seventh century and are covered by Ottoman-era structures, or to commission archaeological digs before they are pulled down, something that has caused considerable concern among the few academics who are willing to speak out in the deeply authoritarian kingdom. “No one denies that Medina is in need of expansion, but it’s the way the authorities are going about it which is so worrying,” says Dr Irfan al-Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. “There are ways they could expand which would either avoid or preserve the ancient Islamic sites but instead they want to knock it all down.” Dr Alawi has spent much of the past 10 years trying to highlight the destruction of early Islamic sites. With cheap air travel and booming middle classes in populous Muslim countries within the developing world, both Mecca and Medina are struggling to cope with the 12 million pilgrims who visit each year – a number expected to grow to 17 million by 2025. The Saudi monarchy views itself as the sole authority to decide what should happen to the cradle of Islam. Although it has earmarked billions for an enormous expansion of both Mecca and Medina, it also sees the holy cities as lucrative for a country almost entirely reliant on its finite oil wealth. Heritage campaigners and many locals have looked on aghast as the historic sections of Mecca and Medina have been bulldozed to make way for gleaming shopping malls, luxury hotels and enormous skyscrapers. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of the 1,000-year-old buildings in the two cities have been destroyed in the past 20 years. In Mecca, the Masjid al-Haram, the holiest site in Islam and a place where all Muslims are supposed to be equal, is now overshadowed by the Jabal Omar complex, a development of skyscraper apartments, hotels and an enormous clock tower. To build it, the Saudi authorities destroyed the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress and the hill it stood on. Other historic sites lost include the Prophet’s birthplace – now a library – and the house of his first wife, Khadijah, which was replaced with a public toilet block. Neither the Saudi Embassy in London nor the Ministry for Foreign Affairs responded to requests for comment when The Independent contacted them this week. But the government has previously defended its expansion plans for the two holy cities as necessary. It insists it has also built large numbers of budget hotels for poorer pilgrims, though critics point out these are routinely placed many miles away from the holy sites. Until recently, redevelopment in Medina has pressed ahead at a slightly less frenetic pace than in Mecca, although a number of early Islamic sites have still been lost. Of the seven ancient mosques built to commemorate the Battle of the Trench – a key moment in the development of Islam – only two remain. Ten years ago, a mosque which belonged to the Prophet’s grandson was dynamited. Pictures of the demolition that were secretly taken and smuggled out of the kingdom showed the religious police celebrating as the building collapsed. The disregard for Islam’s early history is partly explained by the regime’s adoption of Wahabism, an austere and uncompromising interpretation of Islam that is vehemently opposed to anything which might encourage Muslims towards idol worship. In most of the Muslim world, shrines have been built. Visits to graves are also commonplace. But Wahabism views such practices with disdain. The religious police go to enormous lengths to discourage people from praying at or visiting places closely connected to the time of the Prophet while powerful clerics work behind the scenes to promote the destruction of historic sites. Dr Alawi fears that the redevelopment of the Masjid an-Nabawi is part of a wider drive to shift focus away from the place where Mohamed is buried. The spot that marks the Prophet’s tomb is covered by a famous green dome and forms the centrepiece of the current mosque. But under the new plans, it will become the east wing of a building eight times its current size with a new pulpit. There are also plans to demolish the prayer niche at the centre of mosque. The area forms part of the Riyadh al-Jannah (Garden of Paradise), a section of the mosque that the Prophet decreed especially holy. “Their excuse is they want to make more room and create 20 spaces in a mosque that will eventually hold 1.6 million,” says Dr Alawi. “It makes no sense. What they really want is to move the focus away from where the Prophet is buried.” A pamphlet published in 2007 by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs – and endorsed by the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz al Sheikh – called for the dome to be demolished and the graves of Mohamed, Abu Bakr and Umar to be flattened. Sheikh Ibn al-Uthaymeen, one of the 20th century’s most prolific Wahabi scholars, made similar demands. “Muslim silence over the destruction of Mecca and Medina is both disastrous and hypocritical,” says Dr Alawi. “The recent movie about the Prophet Mohamed caused worldwide protests... and yet the destruction of the Prophet’s birthplace, where he prayed and founded Islam has been allowed to continue without any criticism.” Mecca and Medina in numbers 12m The number of people who visit Mecca and Medina every year 3.4m The number of Muslims expected to perform Hajj (pilgrimage) this year 600,000 The current capacity of the Masjid an-Nabawi mosque 1.6m The projected capacity of the mosque after expansion

Suspect archaeology of Mecca

Access is being denied to certain key archaeological sites and finds. 1. We read of it in the case of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey and we saw the photos: World Economic Forum puts lid on Gobekli Tepe (2) World Economic Forum puts lid on Gobekli Tepe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXsMgp8KLc The Gobekli Tepe “Situation” is WORSE Than I Thought 2. We read of it in the case of Ebla in Syria, for example: Scandal of Ebla https://www.academia.edu/67727873/Scandal_of_Ebla 3. And Dr. Jay Smith has told of the same sort of thing happening in relation to Mecca and Medina. Read also this article: What has the Saudi government been up to at Mecca and Medina? https://www.academia.edu/126799391/What_has_the_Saudi_government_been_up_to_at_Mecca_and_Medina Agenda-driven powers that be, or local authorities, are concreting over, censoring, and taking away reasonable access to, some highly significant archaeological sites. In light of all this, I (Damien Mackey) was interested to come across an article (2021) by Daniel Janosik, entitled, “If Mecca Did Not Exist in the Time of Muhammad, then Who Was Muhammad and Where Did He Live?”, in which the author deals with the archaeology of Mecca – similar to what I have heard on Dr. Jay Smith’s videos. Here are some relevant parts of that important article: (2) If Mecca Did Not Exist in the Time of Muhammad, then Who Was Muhammad and Where Did He Live Introduction Muslims claim that Muhammad was born in Mecca and the earliest parts of the Qur’an were revealed to him there. Indeed, without Mecca the whole story of Muhammad would have to be re-evaluated and the very foundations of Islam would have to be questioned. However, recent archaeological and historical research calls into question whether Mecca even existed in the traditional time of Muhammad (570-632 AD). There are no archaeological artifacts from Mecca until the 8th century AD, the first direct mention of Mecca in external literature occurs in 741 AD, and the first time Mecca is listed on a map of the Middle East was 900 AD. Mackey’s comment: Dr. Jay Smith, too, will, like this author, refer to the C7th, C8th and C9th’s AD as if this were relevant. In the context of the non-existent Mohammed and, e.g., the Umayyad Caliphate, however, I find that this only confuses the very things that they are hoping to clarify. See e.g. my article: Oh my, the Umayyads! Deconstructing the Caliphate https://www.academia.edu/117122001/Oh_my_the_Umayyads_Deconstructing_the_Caliphate Daniel Janosik continues: Indeed, if Mecca did not exist in the early 7th century, then who was Muhammad and from where did he come? This paper will consider the Muslim evidence for the existence of Mecca in light of the research of a number of recent scholars who have suggested that Mecca was probably neither a center of trade nor a religious center or pilgrimage site in the 7th century. One issue for consideration is that the geographical descriptions of the city of the prophet in the Qur’an do not match up with the barren landscape of Mecca. Furthermore, the qiblas, or the direction of prayer in the mosques, did not point to Mecca until 727 AD. The evidence also may indicate that Muhammad probably did not have anything to do with Mecca, especially since it may not have even existed at that time. Finally, a mounting body of evidence suggests that the Nabataean kingdom of Petra in Northeast Arabia might have actually been the center of the origin of Islam, and Muhammad a much different religious leader than the one traditionally portrayed by Islam. Muslim Claims about Mecca Muslims believe that Mecca is the “mother of all cities” (Q. 6:92; 42:7) and tradition states that it goes back to the first home for Adam and Eve after they were cast out of heaven (Q. 7:24). Later, around 2,000 BC, Abraham and his eldest son, Ishmael, repaired the Ka’ba in order to worship God (Q. 21:51-71). Subsequently, according to Islam, in the time before Muhammad, Mecca had become a center of idolatry during the “Age of Ignorance.” To correct this injustice and put man on the “right path,” Allah raised up the prophet Muhammad, and through his leadership the city was restored as a center of Muslim worship as well as the most important city in the Islamic world. Muslims claim that Muhammad lived in Mecca from 570 AD to 622 and died in Medina in 632. Islamic tradition states that after his death all mosques began to face Mecca. Muslims also claim that Mecca was the center of trade and caravans would take a detour from the main route in order to worship at the Ka’ba. If all of this is true, Mecca should be one of the best known and best documented cities in history. Even though the name “Mecca” is only mentioned in the Qur’an once (Q. 48:24), Muslims believe that inferences to “Mecca” in the Qur’an and the Hadith indicate that the city is not only the center of Islam, but also the center of history. Therefore, many anonymous and indistinct references to locations mentioned in the Qur’an are assumed to refer to Mecca. For example, as mentioned above, Muslims believe that [Mecca] … is the “mother of all settlements,” or the “mother of all cities” (Q. 6:92; 42:7), and therefore must have existed from the time of Adam and Eve (Q. 7:24). They also believe that [Mecca] is also referred to as “the place of the prophet” (assuming that the “prophet” must refer to Muhammad), and has a number of geographical and vegetative characteristics that are listed in the Qur’an. These inferences describe [Mecca] as being in a valley with a parallel valley (Ibn Hisham; Al Bukhari 2:645, 2:685, 3:891, 2:815, 2:820, 4:227), with a stream near the Ka’ba (Al Bukhari 2:685), with ruins outside the city, and a pillar of ‘salt’ nearby (Q. 37:133-138; referring to Lot’s wife). The city is also surrounded by fields (Al Bukhari 9:337), has trees (Sahih al-Tirmidhi 1535), including olive trees (Q. 6:141; Q. 16; Q. 80), grass (al Bukhari 9:337), fruit (Al Bukhari 4:281), clay and loam (Al Tabari VI 1079 p.6). The city is also described as having mountains close enough so that they overlook the Ka’ba (Ibn Hisham; Al Bukhari 2:645, 2:685, 3:891, 2:815, 2:820, 4:227). However, as we shall see later, the actual city of Mecca is not in a valley, and has none of these horticultural assets listed above, mainly because it is in a desert where it is just too arid and dry for these things to survive. Is it possible that the Qur’an and these Hadith are actually describing a different city in a location far away? The Standard Islamic Traditions also indicate that [Mecca] is the burial place of many of the biblical prophets. This list would include Adam and Eve, their son Seth, Ishmael, Noah, Hud (the great-great grandson of Noah), Salih (the grandfather of Hagar), the Queen of Sheba, the prophet Daniel, as well as up to 300 other prophets. According to the various sources, these people all would have lived for some time in Mecca, or died there. This would mean that parts of the Bible would come into question and the focus of the stories would need to be re-directed 600 miles further south. However, while there is much historical and archaeological evidence to corroborate the Biblical narrative, there is almost nothing to support these claims of Islam. In addition, if all these prophets died and were buried in Mecca, then where are their graves and their remains? …. The Archaeological Considerations Whenever new construction is considered in ancient cities like Jerusalem and Damascus, archaeologists are called in to make sure that historic sites are not disturbed, or, if discoveries are made of ancient artifacts, these records of the past can be collected and preserved. However, this apparently is not the case with Mecca. Recently, Muhammad’s traditional birthplace, the house of Khadija, Muhammad’s first wife, the house of Abu Bakr, as well as a number of the earliest known mosques and tombs have been destroyed in Mecca. In fact, an estimated 95% of the historic buildings in Mecca have been destroyed since 1985. …. The reason that is given is either that these historical sites are being destroyed so that Muslims will not worship them, or, more pragmatically, that these sites need to be removed in order to make more room for hotels, parking lots, and even bathrooms for the growing number of pilgrims swarming to Mecca during the annual Hajj. However, a more sinister reason may be that these earliest remnants of Muhammad and the origins of Islam in the city may be disappearing because they did not exist as early as the 6th or 7th century. The Saudi government does not allow archaeological work to be performed in Mecca or Medina. This may be simply a “coverup” for a lack of archaeological evidence that could be used to support the existence of Mecca in the time of Muhammad. When Dan Gibson, a veteran archaeologist of many years in the Middle East, attended a conference on Nabataean Studies in Petra in 2002, he asked leading archaeologists from Saudi Arabia and Jordan about the archaeological record in Mecca. He was very surprised when “they admitted there was no archaeological record in Mecca before 800 AD.” …. If this is an accurate assessment by the Arab archaeologists in regard to Mecca in the time of Muhammad, then the real reason for the destruction of so many of the historical sites that supposedly link back to Muhammad may be that these buildings and mosques did not exist in the 7th and 8th centuries …. Therefore, destroying evidence that would undermine the historicity of Islam would be necessary to protect their historical claims. Peter Townsend points out that Muslims accept the concept that “history underpins every aspect of Muslim faith.” …. However, Townsend also reminds us that “when we study the inscriptions, documents and archaeological evidence produced by Mecca’s Arab near-neighbors and the imperial powers that dominated the ancient Near-East (Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, and Roman), we do not find a single reference to Mecca.” ….