Pilgrims follow in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad [pbuh], but there is little of his legacy left in Islam's holiest city
The Grand Mosque in Macca, teeming with pilgrims for the start of Hajj this week. Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP
Two million Muslims have flooded into Saudi Arabia's Mina Valley from Macca
for the start of the Hajj pilgrimage this week. Dressed in simple white
garments and freed from their worldly possessions, they are following
in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad [pbuh] But in Islam's holiest city,
there is increasingly little sign of the prophet's legacy – or the
frugal life he espoused.
“The authorities are trying to destroy anything in Macca that is
associated with the prophet's life,” says Irfan al-Alawi, director of
the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation,
who recently returned from a trip to the city. “They have already
bulldozed the house of his wife, his grandson and his companion – and
now they are coming for his birthplace. And for what? Yet more
seven-star hotels.”
At the foot of the Khandama mountain to the west of the Grand Mosque,
an innocuous white building stands alone, cast adrift in a sea of
paving and tarmac. This small library was built to mark the site of the
house where the prophet was born, known as the House of Mawlid, the remains of which Alawi says still lie beneath its raised plinth. But it is now in the path of bigger plans.
Under threat … The library built to mark the site of the prophet's birthplace. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi
Across the road, the house of Muhammad's [pbuh] wife, Khadijah, has already
been replaced with a block of 1,400 public lavatories. Further up the
hill, centuries-old neighbourhoods have been flattened to continue the
marching line of steroidal hotel towers. Its neighbours already swept
away, the library is next in the firing line, standing in the way of
plans for an underground car park and a metro line extension – needed to
cope with the huge influx of visitors, set to reach 17 million a year
by 2025.
As if to preempt any outcry, the prophet Muhammad [pbuh] was born
in this place, so it is forbidden to make this place specific for
praying, supplicating or get blessing.” A booth manned by the religious
police ensures that no visitors step out of line.
It is, says Alawi, just the latest move in a series of state-endorsed
acts of cultural vandalism, urged on by the hardline wahhabist sect,
which perceives historic sites and the veneration of the prophet as
encouraging sinful idolatry. A 1,400-year-old well, Bir e Tuwa, where
the prophet spent a night, now stands alone as another endangered
fragment marooned in a rubble wasteland. Its neighbours have been razed
for hotels, and it looks to be going the same way.
The Bir e Tuwa well, a holy site associated with the prophet Muhammad [pbuh], is now facing demolition. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi
In the Grand Mosque itself, a group of 500-year-old stone columns and
vaults have now been demolished to make room for a vast extension. It
is no coincidence, says Alawi, that the columns in the firing sights
were inscribed with calligraphic poetry recounting Muhammad's journeys
and associated sites of pilgrimage.
Five hundred-year-old Abbasid columns in the Grand Mosque, now destroyed. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi
Encircled by a looming ring of hotels and topped by Big Ben's big
brother clock-tower of the Abraj al-Bait complex, the Grand Mosque has
been transformed beyond all recognition over the last decade. As reported last year,
the view from the open courtyard in the centre of the mosque is now
choked with cranes, jostling for position with minarets and towers; but
this year there is a new addition just metres from the Ka'aba itself. The
holy black cube, around which pilgrims must walk, has now been blessed
with an elevated roundabout.
Raised 13m in the air, rising just above the top of the Kaaba, this
floating halo provides an extra 3,000 square metres of space for
perambulating pilgrims. With priority given to the elderly and disabled,
its 12m-wide walkway is big enough to accommodate 1,700 wheelchairs per
hour – but it comes at the cost of throttling the Ka'aba in a
three-storey cage and blocking the sacred black box from the view of
thousands of others on the elevated prayer halls around.
Floating halo … the temporary Mataf extension accommodates 1,700 wheelchairs per hour. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi
Authorities say it is only a temporary measure for the next three
years, while the £13 bn mosque expansion project is underway, leaving a
substantial area out of action. Parts of the ground and first floor of
this huge complex are open for the first time this year, welcoming
pilgrims into its lofty halls, linked by escalators to 10,000 ablution
places. When complete, this gargantuan triangular slab, which sprawls
out to the north like a slice of marble-encrusted wedding cake, will
more than double the capacity of the mosque to 1.2 million worshippers,
with 52 entrance gates, 120 elevators and four new minarets. And the
price of this extra space? The wholesale demolition of one of Macca's
most historic neighbourhoods – and the forced eviction of its residents.
Earlier this month, senior Saudi cleric Sheikh Saad bin Nasser Al Shathricalled on Muslims around the world
to support the expansion project. “Co-operating with the expansion of
the Grand Mosque is consistent with sharia principles,” he said,
“because building mosques is regarded as one of the greatest acts of
piety and the best of all mosques is the Grand Mosque.”
The £13 billion mosque expansion project will more than double the
capacity to 1.2m worshippers. Photograph: Saudi Bin Laden Group
With the entire city choked by building work, the kingdom has taken
the unusual step of urging pilgrims to delay their visit, and numbers
are down 20% this year as a result of reduced visa quotas. “If Muslims
choose not to travel to the Grand Mosque with the benefit of other
Muslims in mind,” said Shathri, “they will be rewarded in the same way
as if they had performed the pilgrimage.”
“At times it is appropriate to refrain from performing certain acts
of obedience,” he said, “in order to avoid the hardships of others.” At
times it may also be appropriate to refrain from certain building
projects, to avoid the relentless transformation of Mecca into a luxury
pay-per-prayer resort.
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