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12/08/05 Letter to the Independent newspaper [London] from the Saudi Ambassador to the UK and the Republic of Ireland answering “The destruction of Mecca: Saudi hardliners are wiping out their own heritage”, published on Saturday 6 August 2005.
What rubbish. But then what would you expect if you use two completely unreliable sources: Ali Al-Ahmed, a disgruntled one man ‘organisation', whose modus operandi is to spew out anti Saudi material of any kind (its basis on fact being fairly irrelevant) and Sami Angawi, the equally disgruntled former director of the Pilgrimage Research Centre who was fired for the mismanagement of affairs and wants to attack all those that now have responsibility for the Two Holy Places. Perhaps your readers would be interested in what is really happening. Every artefact discovered has been preserved and protected and will be displayed in new museums in Makkah and Madinah - indeed some artefacts are already on display. In all, more than $19 billion has been spent on preserving and maintaining these two Holy sites. We are proud of our rich Islamic heritage. A pride reflected in the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title taken by our King. We are also aware of how precious this Islamic heritage is and how important the preservation of this heritage is, not just to us but to the millions of Muslims from around the world who visit the Two Holy Mosques every year, it is hardly something we are going to allow to be destroyed. http://www.islamicpluralism.org/articles/2005a/saudiambassador.htm Save the Hijaz Response to Prince Turki Al-Faisal Thank you for confirming that Ali Al-Ahmed and Sami Angawi were in a position to know what is happening behind the scenes in the development of Makkah and Madinah. How much respect you show your brothers in Islam when they point out to you inadequacies with your governments development and modernisation with skyskrapers, expensive hotels and fast food restaurants in the Harram. Perhaps the readers and pursuers of knowledge would be more interested to learn that the two museums of Makkah and Madinah are not always open, almost unheard of by the local populace and even to this day no artefact belonging to the founder of Islam is kept there. You have a few token Ottoman relics, a few bricks from the Old Grand Mosque but what else? If you want heritage of our Noble Prophet then instead go to Topaki in Istanbul, Turkey or to Badshah Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan because you are not interested in preserving our Noble Prophet's heritage or property. If you are so aware of the preciousness of Islamic Heritage how can you consider destroying the Birthplace of our Prophet just like your ancestors did when they turned it into a cattle market? Surely you do not think building a hotel on top of this sacred location will garner more respect for our Noble Prophet. You are allowing for the Heritage of Islam to be destroyed, you have already desecrated the grave of the Noble Prophet's mother, built toilets over the house of Sayyida Khadija (may Allah be Pleased with her), destroyed Jannat-ul Baqi and at the site of Jabal al-Khundaq you have built a cashpoint. Signed |