Al Baqi: The Past, Present and Future
Wahhabi bigotry has led to destruction of Islamic heritage sites in Mecca and Medina.
On the last visit of Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli to Allentown, he was very gracious to gift me a book, Al Baqi Cemetery – The Past, Present and Future authored by him.
The foreword written by Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani is very thought provoking and well composed. The question Dr. Ammar put forward is, if Muslim’s world cannot rebuild Jannat al Baqi, how will we reestablish ourselves as a unified Ummah?
Book Review:
Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli does not need any introduction, nor did he disappoint me with the book. However, as always, he is diplomat and politically correct, the Sheikh did not forcefully critique the Bedouin kingdom “The House of Saud” and “Wahhabism”.
In the preface Sheikh mentioned that according to UK-based Islamic Heritage foundation 98% of historical and religious sites in Saudi Arabia have been destroyed since 1985.
What kind of opium we Muslims are to let this vandalism happened?
This book provides a thorough overview of the historically facts in the land know as cradle of Islam - Mecca and Medina. It is definitive a comprehensive historical book, well-researched and rich in detail with numerous foot notes.
The book is divided into thirteen chapters, seventy (70) images, ten (10) illustrations and one (1) table. It is full of colorful images and detail maps.
It is a must-read for anyone going for Umrah or Hajj. It is a straightforward read for people of all ages, providing easy references for teachers and researchers.
Although some images are poor in quality, the overall effect is not lost, and the wealth of facts demonstrates an immense depth of research.
This is priceless work for understanding Al Baqi Cemetery, and this book should be the part of the curriculum for Sunday School (Madrasas).
The core of the book are four short essays. The history is covered from chapter one to chapter six (Pages 1 – 60) covering the history of graves of well-known Muslim’s personalities during the time of the Prophet, his family (Ahlul Bayt) and his companions.
Chapter seven is titled as important questions – it is a must read.
While Chapter 8 and 9 are devastating for Saudi kingdom, where Sheikh Mohammed Hilli describes the Wahabi ideology, the puritanical regime, and historical accounts of destruction of the Al Baqi cemetery and the shrines in Karbala since 1795.
The third part of the book is about the future of Baqi where brother Zuhair Hussiani in 2015 was blessed to embark on a journey to design a mausoleum complex for Jannat al-Baqi as a part of his thesis project at architecture school at New York institute of Technology.
He has wonderful illustration with the use of water, light and design orientation. There are beautiful rendering pictures how the mausoleum will look. Mashallah the 18 months of hard work will inshallah be rewarded. Ameen!
The last part of the book covers the debate of building of shrines, the etiquettes of visitation, seeking blessing and intercession. The book concludes with two appendixes. Appendix # 1 is the “demanding to rebuild, restore and preserve” by al-Base Organization.
This is the great work done by the numerous brothers at al-Baqi organization through United Nations and UNESCO.
Last and my favorite is the poems in remembrance of al-Baqi. Inshallah Sheikh would facilitate the poem/qasida/Nauha in Arabic and Urdu to go with the book.
This book is an ideal introduction to the history and reality of Baqi, “the land that We have blessed” (al-Qur’an 21:81). The House of Saud will not appreciate my review, commentary or this book.
My Turn! & My $0.02 on the Dome Kingdom of Saud.
Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarch restricts all political rights and civil liberties.
Wahabism doctrine institutionalized discrimination against non-Saudi residents, persecutes minorities, has committed genocide in Yemen, treats women “as chattels”, and continue the gruesome beheadings every Friday.
The House of Saud has a horrible record on human rights, religious freedom, and have bankrolled Islamic terrorist group across the globe with millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of military weapons.
Saudi Arabia, in which Wahhabism is the state form of Islam, has a long history of vandalizing and demolishing historical monuments.
Makkah’s 1000-year-old historic sites have been bulldozed and replaced by hotels and concrete jungle. The biggest tragedy for the Islamic architectural heritage.
Saudi Arabia has draconian religious laws for women, who don't have any rights at all. Women are persecuted, discriminated and abused.
The kingdom openly executes its citizens on Fridays via beheadings for minor drug crimes.
Practicing Christianity is forbidden in the kingdom and any attempted conversion from Islam is punishable by death.
The Kingdom has hijacked and distorted Islam with no freedom of speech.
There have been hundreds of arbitrary arrest and detentions with horrible life-threatening prison conditions.
The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen has caused humanitarian crises and has committed genocide with the help of U.S.-supplied arms
US complicity
The US foreign policy is not about democracy, human right and justice, but power and wealth. The real issue for Muslims is the relationship of USA with Bedouin which sees, hear and speak no evil about the Saudi’s.
Saudi Arabia should be the country subject to sanctions and regime change, yet for some reasons it is clearly protected by media and the Halls of power in Washington and London. Why? Silence (Khamoshi) of the Muslim Ummah.
To Be Continue!
A critical essay on the consequence of the ideology of Khamosh - Silent خاموش There are known consequences of silence and indifference. Silence is crime to humanity.
Thank you for this. Interesting how they pretend to love the Prophet yet the tomb of his grandson is left derelict... among many others.