Wahhabi Destruction of Holy Sites in Makkah & Madina

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following article is adapted from The Destruction of the Holy Sites in Makkah & Madina, from Islamica magazine.

In 1802, a Wahhabi army, commanded by the sons of the heretic, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and the bandit chief, Muhammad ibn Sa’ud, captured and occupied Tha’if.  They perpetrated a bloody massacre and outrage that would be repeated by ISIS, more than 200 years later.  In 1803, the army of heretics occupied Makkah, and executed the same bloody campaign, including rape and massacres.  They levelled all the domes over the maqamat, including the dome over the Zamzam well.  They vandalized sacred places, they threw books of sacred texts in the streets, they killed people right before the Ka’bah, slaughtering them like animals, men, women, and children.  They reoccupied Makkah again in 1805, and continued that destruction on a smaller scale.

In 1806, the Wahhabi army occupied Madina.  They executed a campaign of levelling the graves at Baqi’, destroying mosques and shrines, effacing calligraphy in praise of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and the pious, and desecrated the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) Mosque.  They allowed their camels and horses to defecate inside.  They took books of Mawlid, and adzkar, with phrases of the Qur’an inside, and threw them on the streets to be trampled.

They cornered the scholars, the students, and the innocents, and slaughtered them in the mosques, and in the streets, even before the Rawdhah of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  They attempted to demolish the grave of the Prophet (s.a.w.), and of his companions, and tear down the Dome, but Allah (s.w.t.) Protected it.

In those years, Muslims were prevented from the haj.  In 1805, it was Iraqi and Iranian Muslims who were refused permission to perform haj; in 1806 it was the Syrians; and in 1807, it was the Egyptians.  The Saudis wanted the pilgrims to embrace their Wahhabi kufr to be allowed to perform haj.  Muslims caught in the lands of the Hijaz were considered heretics and infidels, and thousands of the hujjaj were killed – ignoring the Words of Allah (s.w.t.):

سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة

وَمَنۡ أَظۡلَمُ مِمَّن مَّنَعَ مَسَـٰجِدَ ٱللَّهِ أَن يُذۡكَرَ فِيہَا ٱسۡمُهُ ۥ وَسَعَىٰ فِى خَرَابِهَآ‌ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمۡ أَن يَدۡخُلُوهَآ إِلَّا خَآٮِٕفِينَ‌ۚ لَهُمۡ فِى ٱلدُّنۡيَا خِزۡىٌ۬ وَلَهُمۡ فِى ٱلۡأَخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ۬ (١١٤)

And who is more unjust than he who forbids that in places for the worship of Allah; His Name should be celebrated? ―Whose zeal is (in fact) to ruin them?  It was not fitting that such should themselves enter them except in fear.  For them there is nothing but disgrace in this world and in the world to come, an exceeding torment. (Surah al-Baqarah:114)

The Wahhabis targeted the graves of the martyrs of Uhud, the mosque at the grave of Sayyidina Hamzah ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib (r.a.), and the mosques outside Baqi’: the Sayyidatina Fathimah bint Muhammad az-Zahrah (r.a.), the Mosque of al-Manaratayn, and Qubbat’ ats-Tsanaya, the burial site of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) incisor that was broken in the battle of Uhud.  The structures in Baqi’ were leveled to the ground.  This is the state of the graves today, with nothing to indicate the pious predecessors buried there.

These outrages united the Muslims, and the Ottomans sent an army commanded by Hadhrat Muhammad ‘Ali Basha (r.a.).  By the time that army reached the Haramayn, they were joined by Muslim contingents from all over the regions, including dozens of tribes that mobilised their entire manpower.  In 1818, the Wahhabis were defeated, and sent scurrying back to Najd.  They were banned from the haj.

The Prophet’s (s.a.w.) Mosque, Baqi’, and the monuments at Uhud were rebuilt during the reigns of the Ottoman rulers, Sulthan ‘Abd al-Majid I, Sulthan ‘Abd al-Hamid II, and Sulthan Mahmud II.  From 1848 to 1860, the buildings were renovated, and the Ottomans rebuilt the domes and mosques in splendid aesthetic style.  They also rebuilt Baqi’ with a large dome over the graves of the Prophet’s daughter Sayyidatina Fathimah az-Zahra (r.a.), Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-‘Abidin (r.a.), Imam Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Baqir (r.a.), and Imam Ja’far ibn Muhammad asw-Swadiq (q.s.).

The graves of the extended family of the Prophet (s.a.w.), found at the Baqi’ include those belonging to Sayyidina Ibrahim ibn Muhammad (r.a.), Sayyidina Abu ‘Amr ‘Utsman ibn ‘Affan (r.a.), Sayyidatina Swafiyyah bint’ Abd al-Muththalib (r.a.), Sayyidatina ‘Atiqah bint ‘Abd al-Muththalib (r.a.), Sayyidina al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib (r.a.), Sayyidatina Fathimah bint Asad (r.a.), Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn Ja’far ibn Abu Thalib (r.a.), and Sayyidina ‘Aqil ibn Abu Thalib (r.a.).  The grave of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) father, Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib (r.a.) was in Dar an-Nabighah, of the Bani Najjar, the house of where the Prophet (s.a.w.) learned to swim.  However, his father’s grave was exhumed 17 years ago and transferred to the Baqi’.  The area of the house today lies under the marble covering the plaza surrounding the mosque.

A number of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) wives were buried in the Baqi’: Sayyidatina ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr (r.a.), Sayyidatina Hafswah bint ‘Umar (r.a.), Sayyidatina Juwayriyyah ibn al-Harits (r.a.), Sayyidatina Swaffiyyah bint Huyayy (r.a.), Sayyidatina Sawdah bint Zam’ah (r.a.), Sayyidatina Zaynab bint Khuzaymah (r.a.), Sayyidatina Zaynab bint Jahsh (r.a.), Sayyidatina Umm Habibah Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan (r.a.), and Sayyidatina Umm Salamah Hind bint Abu Umayyah al-Makhzumiyyah (r.a.).  The tomb of Sayyidatina Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (r.a.), the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) first wife, is in Makkah because she died before the Hijrah.  Her grave is in the Hajun cemetery, known as Maqbarat al-Ma’la.  The tomb of Sayyidatina Maymunah bint al-Harits al-Hillaliyyah (r.a.), another wife, is also in Makkah in an area known as Sarif, which lies on the side of the Hijra Road, nearly 20 kilometres outside Makkah.

On the 21^st April 1925, with the help of the British, the Wahhabi scourge came back, and the domes of Baqi’ were demolished again, and it has been so for almost a hundred years.  The tombs at Maqbarat al-Ma’la, in Makkah, where the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) mother, Sayyidatina Khadijah (r.a.), his grandfather and other ancestors are buried, were levelled.  Destruction of the sacred sites in the Hijaz continues until this day.  

The accursed Wahhabis say they are trying to rescue Islam from what they consider innovation, deviance and idolatry.  Among the practices they believe are contrary to Islam are constructing elaborate monuments over graves and making supplications there.  The Mashrubat Umm Ibrahim, was built to mark the location of the house where the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) son, Sayyidina Ibrahim (r.a.), was born to Sayyidatina Umm Ibrahim Mariyah bint Sham’un al-Qibthiyyah (r.a.), also contained the grave of Hamida al-Barbariyyah (r.a.), the wife of Imam Ja‘far ibn Muhammad asw-Swadiq, and the mother of Imam Abu al-Hasan Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kazhim (r.a.).  These sites were destroyed over the past few years.  That destruction has continued apace.

The mosque and maqam of Imam ‘Ali al-‘Uraydhi ibn Ja’far asw-Swadiq (r.a.), six kilometres from the Prophet’s Mosque, was destroyed by dynamite, and flattened on 13^th August 2002.  Imam al-‘Uraydhi (r.a.) is ninth in line from the Prophet (s.a.w.).  Muqbil ibn Hadi al-Hamdani al-Wadi’i al-Khallali, the Wahhabi scholar of Yemen, and a student at the University of Madina, wrote a slanderous thesis, “About the Dome Built over the Grave of the Messenger,” sponsored by the kafir of Sudan, Hamad ibn Muhammad al-Answari al-Khazraji as-Sa’adi.  In this thesis, Muqbil claimed the presence of the bodies of the Prophet (s.a.w.), and his two companions was bid’ah adh-dhalalah, a reprehensible innovation, and that the graves needed to be destroyed, and the bodies removed.

In the Ottoman part of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) Mosque, at the center of the three sections raised a bit from the ground level are three circles.  The first, toward the west, corresponds to the grave of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  The next two toward the east correspond to the graves of Abu Bakr asw-Swiddiq (r.a.) and ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab (r.a.).  Above the circles are invocations including “Ya Allah” and “Ya Muhammad.”  The latter was removed and replaced it with “Ya Majid” by adding the dot under the ha’ of Muhammad to make itjim, and two dots under the second mim of Muhammad to make it ya.  There are qaswa’id written by rulers of the Muslim world, such as Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid.  Many verses of the famous Qaswidah al-Burdah of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Sa’id al-Buswiri ash-Shadzili (q.s.) are painted over.  On the Qiblaj side, the brass partition that is divided into three sections between two columns, the authorities have also tried to cover the famous two verses inscribed in the east from the story of Shaykh al-‘Utbi Muhammad ibn ‘Ubaydullah (r.a.), as mentioned by Hafizh ‘Imad ad-Din Abu al-Fida’ Isma’il ibn ‘Umar ibn Katsir (r.a.), in his Tafsir:  “O best of those whose bones are buried in the deep earth, and from whose fragrance the depth and height have become sweet! May I be the ransom for a grave in which you dwell, where purity, bounty and munificence.”

On the first section of this partition, there is a green banner, on which the Words of Allah (s.w.t.) are framed in yellow:

سُوۡرَةُ الحُجرَات

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لَا تَرۡفَعُوٓاْ أَصۡوَٲتَكُمۡ فَوۡقَ صَوۡتِ ٱلنَّبِىِّ وَلَا تَجۡهَرُواْ لَهُ ۥ بِٱلۡقَوۡلِ كَجَهۡرِ بَعۡضِڪُمۡ لِبَعۡضٍ أَن تَحۡبَطَ أَعۡمَـٰلُكُمۡ وَأَنتُمۡ لَا تَشۡعُرُونَ (٢)

O you who believe!  Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as you may speak aloud to one another lest your deeds become vain and you perceive not. (Surah al-Hujraat:2)

The Sacred Chamber has four exterior doors: on the south, Bab at-Tawbah, The Door of Repentance; on the north, Bab at-Tahajjud, the Door of Night Prayer; on the east, Bab Fathimah, the Door of Fathimah; and on the west, Bab an-Nabi, the Door of the Prophet, also known as Bab al-Wufud, the Door of Delegations.  These gates have been present since the year 668 AH except for the Gate of the Night Prayer, which was installed in 729 AH.  Inside there are two gates, one on either side of the triangular part of the interior compartment.  All of these doors are covered by brass shelves holding copies of the Qur’an, an attempt to prevent the public from looking inside the Sacred chamber.

In 1998, the grave of Sayyidatina Aminah bint Wahb (r.a.), the Prophet’s mother, was bulldozed in Abwa, and gasoline was poured on it.  Even though thousands of petitions throughout the Muslim world were sent to Saudi Arabia, nothing stopped this action.  Sayyid Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi al-Maliki (q.s.), a Makkan who was a great historian on the holy sites and inherited his knowledge from his father and forefathers who were all teachers of the holy Haram, showed me pictures of the grave of Sayyidatina Aminah (r.a.) marked with a pile of stones after the destruction.  The house of Sayyidatina Khadijah (r.a.) was excavated during the Haram extensions, then hurriedly covered over so as to obliterate any trace of it.  This was the house where the Prophet (s.a.w.) received some of his first Revelations and it is also where his children Sayyidatina Umm Kultsum (r.a.), Sayyidatina Ruqqayah (r.a.), Sayyidatina Zaynab (r.a.), Sayyidatina Fathimah az-Zahrah (r.a.), and Sayyidina Qasim (r.a.) were born.  Dar al-Arqam, the first school in Islam where the Prophet (s.a.w.) taught has also been demolished.  It was in the area of Shi’b ‘Ali, near the Bab ‘Ali door opposite the king’s palace.  It is now part of the extension of the Haram.

The authorities plan to demolish the house of Mawlid, where the Prophet (s.a.w.) was born.  About 60 years ago, this house, which used to have a dome over it, was turned into a cattle market.  Some people then worked together to transform it into a library, which it is today.  It is lined with shelves of books about Makkah, most of them written by Makkans.  But the library is under threat again because of the new Jabal ‘Umar project, one of the largest real estate development projects near the Grand Mosque.  The birthplace of the Prophet (s.a.w.) is to make way for a car park and hotels.  About 99% of real estate owners in the Jabal ‘Umar area are shareholders in this company.  The owners have been provided with financial incentives, including what they used to receive as rents, combining five-star facilities under the luxurious Le Meridien banner.  The Meridien Towers will allow several thousand housing units in Mecca to be available during specified periods of time, for a one-off, fixed fee, giving the towers 25 years of shared ownership in Makkah.  This scheme allow outsiders, whether Muslim or not, to invest in the city; they will be allowed to buy from a range of properties that can be used, sublet, resold or given as a gift.

For the holy month of Ramadhan in Makkah, authorities built a wall enclosure in the Haram for women to pray there so men will not be able to see them.  However, this has also blocked women’s visibility of the Ka’bah while they perform their prayers.  The thawaf for women has also been restricted to certain times.

In Madina, of the seven mosques at the site of Jabal al-Khandaq, the Battle of the Trench, where Surah al-Ahzab was Revealed, only two remain.  The others have been demolished and a Saudi bank’s cash point machine has been built in the area.  The remaining mosques will be demolished as soon as the new mosque being constructed is ready.  One of the mosques slated for destruction is Masjid Fath, the mosque and rock of victory, where the Prophet (s.a.w.) stood during the battle of the trench praying for victory.  On the rock is where he received Allah’s (s.w.t.) Promises of victory and of the conquest of Makkah.