Combining Wahhabism and Capitalism to Destroy Islamic Heritage

The current controversy of the potential Saudi demolition of Riyad-Al-Jannah and the graves of Islamic Caliphs Abu Bakar and Omar 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 by The Independent  paper 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 etc), says that the Saudis are planning to turn Mecca into a playground for the rich, by building sky scrapers and luxury hotels that cater for 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 endorse the destruction of the holy sites because of their (baseless) fear that idolatry might creep into Muslim ranks.  Wahhabism, which is an extreme and strict form of Islam that denounces the reverence of any holy site, is the official religion in Saudi Arabia. It is worth noting that the same brand of Islam is practiced by the Taliban who have been involved in the destruction of Bamyan Buddhas and the attack on the legendary Sufi Rehman Baba’s shrine  in Peshawar. However, the Wahabbi Kingdom seems to be on something more than destroying shrines, graves and imposing its own brand of Islam.

Even a cursory search reveals that the Saudis are embarking on a real estate and renewable energy projects as they plan for the future post 2030 when it is feared that the supply of oil, which generates 86% of the kingdom’s revenue, might start to dwindle thus forcing the Saudis to import additional oil from other countries. The Economist states that the rapid increase in demand for oil inside Saudi Arabia has increased by 37% and 65% of its electricity is generated by the oil that it produces. For now, increase in oil price has caused the wealth of Saudis to soar, quite literally, and their construction of the Kingdom Tower is a testament to the money flooding in.

But the increase in oil consumption, the increasing American reliance on Shale Gas , the expectation that Canada and Mexico might become the new middle east  and the awareness of  the fact that oil reserves would not last forever has led Saudi Arabia to consider alternate forms of revenue generation which include real estate, Hajj ( obviously),banking sector and other renewable forms of energy. Khalid Al Falih, the President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, reflects the future strategy of the Saudis when he says that Saudi Aramco wants to transform from an oil& gas company to a ‘global energy and chemicals enterprise’. Apart from energy sources, the real estate sector is booming thanks to the swelling population and the increase in tours by the increasingly affluent middle-class of the Muslim world.

So how does the new course of Saudi economy relate to destruction of Islam’s holy sites? In this regard, my hypothesis is that the Saudis under the valid pretext of real state expansion are destroying the holy sites by invoking the tenets of Wahhabism but on the other hand, in order to clear the way for capitalist expansion projects and to keep up with the rest of the world they are back tracking on the Wahabi doctrine which vehemently opposes all forms of modernization.  The real estate development and other modernization projects can be undertaken anywhere in the kingdom but it seems that the Wahabbi clerics are capitalizing on this opportunity to erase the early history of Islam and increase their hold on the religion. Few countries have dared to raise voice against this heinous crime of the destruction of Islamic holy sites, fearing diplomatic repercussions that might arise. Yet we Pakistanis Muslims scream over the depiction of the Prophet (PBHUH) in the western media, burn buildings, kill people and block websites in protests but do not raise a single voice when the house of Hazrat Khadija (R.A) is turned into a public toilet block and when the Saudi Islamic affairs ministry declares that “the green dome (of Masjid Nabwi) shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Masjid".

The time to raise voice against this crime of titanic proportions is now!