Concerns raised over Saudi mosque demolition
Islamic academics say that development of Masjid an Nabawi will cause the destruction of three ancient mosques near its western wall
Critics have said that the expansion of the Masjid an Nawabi will cause the destruction of three historical mosques.
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Three of the world’s oldest mosques are about to be destroyed as Saudi Arabia embarks on a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Masjid an Nabawi, Islam’s second holiest site, critics have said.
According to a report by the Independent, a UK based newspaper; work on the expansion of the Masjid an Nabawi in Medina will begin once the annual Hajj pilgrimage ends. The Masjid is the burial site of the Prophet Mohammed and is considered to be Islam’s second-most holy site after the Kabba.
When completed, the mosque will be developed into the world’s largest building, with the capacity for more than one million worshippers.
However, concerns have been raised that the development of the mosque will cause the destruction of three historic sites. Critics have claimed that Saudi Arabia is ignoring its historical and archaeological heritage with the bulldozing of mosques dedicated to Abu Bakr and Umar, two of the Prophet’s closest companions.
“No one denies that Medina is in need of expansion, but it’s the way the authorities are going about it that it which is so worrying,” Dr Irfan al Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told the newspaper.
Most of the expansion of the Masjid an Nabawi will take place to the west of the existing mosque. Located just outside the western walls of the current structure are the two mosques, as well as the Masjid Ghamama, a mosque built to commemorate the sport where the Prophet is thought to have given his first prayers for the festival of Eid.
“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 said.
Having spent the last decade highlighting the destruction of early Islamic sites, Dr Alawi said that Saudi Arabia has not announced any plans to preserve or move the three mosques, which have existed since the seventh century and are covered by Ottoman-era structures.
He added that the government has not even commissioned archaeological digs before the mosques are pulled down, which has caused considerable alarm amongst academics in the Kingdom.
The Saudi government’s plan for the site will address the growing problem of accommodating ever larger numbers of pilgrims that visit every year; estimations claim 12 million descended on the area this year. But criticism of the solution has claimed the area is becoming a playground for only the wealthiest Muslims.
According to the US-based Gulf Institute, 95% of the 1000 year old structures in Mecca and Medina have been bulldozed in the last two decades.
