Keeping Islamic history alive

Published Jul 1, 2015

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A Cape Town author’s book honours historic Islamic sites being demolished around the world, writes Yazeed Kamaldien.

Cape Town - Saudi Arabia’s controversial destruction of historic Islamic sites has been making headlines globally for years, but the hard work of a Cape Town writer is helping ensure that memories of this heritage are not lost to the world forever.

After 10 years of study, and visits to nine different countries to document significant sites for Muslims, Naeema Limbada recently launched her book, Remembrance of Islamic Sacred Sites.

Sadly, some of these sites no longer exist outside the pages of books such as hers.

“Out of 300 listed heritage sites in Saudi Arabia, there are only about 30 left,” Limbada told Weekend Argus.

Some blame efforts to accommodate the ever-increasing number of pilgrims heading to the twin holy cities of Mecca and Medina each year for massive expansion projects that have come at a huge heritage cost.

Others say the Saudi government has demolished some sites to prevent idolatry, which Islam forbids.

Just this week, The Independent in London reported that authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun dismantling some of the oldest sections of Islam’s most important mosque, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, also known as the Grand Mosque, as part of a highly controversial - and very expensive - expansion.

They quoted the Washington-based Gulf Institute as estimating that 95 percent of Mecca’s millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone. In addition, dozens of key historical sites dating back to the birth of Islam have been lost.

In 2006 another Cape Town author and veteran journalist, Shafiq Morton, warned in his book Notebooks from Makkah and Madinah: A Journey to Islam’s Holy Cities that the headquarters of Islam was the “only place in the world where people have seen fit to destroy religious sanctuaries”.

It was on her second trip to Mecca that Limbada was spurred to start documenting these sacred sites.

“When I first went to Mecca I had an incredible experience and wanted to share it with my three daughters.

“Then, when I took my daughters there two years later, one of the sites I’d visited was buried. It couldn’t be seen. That disappointment prompted me to document the sites and the stories about them.”

Last month The New York Times interviewed Irfan al-Alawi, director of the London-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, who said “scores of tombs have been destroyed; a house associated with Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija, was replaced with a bank of public toilets; and a home believed to have belonged to his companion Abu Bakr was razed to make way for a Hilton Hotel”.

He continued: “At the same time, the Saudi government has filled Mecca with increasingly modern buildings that include the world’s third tallest building and, soon, its largest hotel.”

In spite of the heavy responsibility behind documenting disappearing history, Limbada said she penned her book with the traveller in mind. She wanted to preserve a sense of place, despite the destruction.

“Even though those sites are not there, just by standing on that spot where it was, and knowing what was there, it spiritually uplifted me,” she said of her journey.

“Knowing what happened there, you could stand there for hours just thinking. You transport yourself to a different era.”

Limbada said she also drew “inspiration from reading lots of historical books” when she embarked on her research.

“I followed in the footsteps of iconic works. The aim was to make this information about our heritage available for future generations.

“I visited sites where one of Prophet Adam’s sons is buried. I went to the sites of Jesus, whom Muslims acknowledge, in Jerusalem. I cover sites that are important to Muslims and Christians.”

Limbada also visited ancient architectural wonders like Petra in Jordan and Egyptian ruins. She sought out tombs of Muslim saints, too.

Along the way, she “climbed a lot of mountains in Mecca” and had to dispel myths that “tour guides who want to make money” sell to eager tourists from afar.

In one instance, said Limbada, it “took me three years to untangle and confirm the burial site of one famous Muslim saint buried in Iraq”.

“You must do your own research before listening to what tour guides tell you. I have talked with heritage officials and religious leaders to confirm facts.

It was a tough job. I visited libraries in different countries and got people to translate documents from Arabic into English.”

Limbada said she also followed Prophet Muhammad’s advice when he said one should seek knowledge even as far as China.

“I was in China with my husband when someone in a restaurant was talking about a sahaba (companion of Prophet Muhammad) who is buried in China.

“I took a taxi and went to this site, found the place and researched it. A lot of people don’t know about it.”

Limbada said she was impressed in Turkey where the “Ottomans have a done great job in saving a lot of Islamic heritage sites”.

“They are still doing things to preserve these sites. Unfortunately in Syria, Iraq and Iran these sites have been destroyed. In Mecca and Medina sites are also being destroyed. That saddens me.”

Morton confirmed that Saudi authorities had “even cut down trees that were planted by the Prophet Muhammad because they said people would worship the trees”. This “intolerant” version of Islam was referred to as Wahhabism, he added.

In his book, Morton wrote: “The silent majority, the house of Sunni Islam, has not yet awoken to its ideological hijacking - and nor has it fully responded to the senseless obliteration of its rich historical legacy in its very devotional heartland.”

It’s a race against time, warn archaeologists and academics who are scrambling to encourage the authorities to preserve what little remains.

Weekend Argus

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