New plans for Saudi Arabia: Bulldozing historic holy sites

Express Tribune: The current controversy of the potential Saudi demolition of Riyad-al-Jannah and the graves of Islamic caliphs Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) and Hazrat Omar (RA) is one in a long line of projects that the world’s biggest exporter of crude oil has undertaken to erase Islamic heritage sites.

The Saudi obsession with everything concrete and steel is a cause of concern for Muslims around the world. The construction of enormous towers and skyscrapers, including the ghastly Mecca clock tower, tell us something about the future plans of the Saudis.

A 2011 report in The Independent titled “Mecca for the rich: Islam’s holiest site ‘turning into Vegas’” written by Jerome Taylor (who wrote the recent story about the planned Saudi destruction of Riyad-al-Jannah), says that the Saudis are planning to turn Mecca into a playground for the rich. They will do this by building sky scrapers and luxury hotels that cater to the rich Muslims coming from all over the world. The same newspaper reported back in April 2006 about the Saudi construction rampage in Islam’s holiest sites.

Systematic destruction of the holy sites and building hotels and resorts is being backed by the blessings of its religious clerics, who have taken upon themselves to erase sites whose significance to Islam is as great as any archaeological site pertaining to the early Christian or Jewish history in Jerusalem.