Calls by Islamists to Destroy Egyptian Pyramids Begin

badcompany

badcompany

badcompany

Soldato
Joined
12 May 2004
Posts
7,018
Location
England
Link

According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi‘i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.”
Click to expand...

Now is there any truth in this claim? I have read that extremists are destroying world heritige sites in Mail Link and Link

Is this a concerted effort on these radicals to do this of just random? It is however an utter disgrace and no reasonable person can surely condone?
what are your views on wanton destruction on this world heritage sites?
 
I've been 3 times so I don't care any more.

In other news a man on a blog said some men want to blow up the Dome On The Rock and The Wailing Wall.
 
Doesn't surprise me as a lot of what we consider historical monuments are targets for religious extremists. Whether they succeed depends on the political context in the country however and whether there is a will to prevent it happening. If the country is completely disordered or run by the nutters doing it then its likely they can blow world heritage sites to bits and get away with it.

I suspect in Egypt it wouldn't get as much of a toe hold in terms of outcome as the people who live near the pyramids have an income based on tourism etc and the pyramids are key to the local economy. I doubt extremists would find sneaking up on the pyramids and taking them out very easy in that context and they are pretty robustly built.

It's actually sad that religious nutters like this can remove the history that makes us who we are. It shows their weakness in an ironic way..they know given a real choice people wouldn't choose to live under them.
 
It's not just that, the brutal Egyptian army absolutely would not stand for it. They own the monuments and basically run the tourism industry in Egypt - any attempts on the pyramids or the other ancient monuments would be an incredibly bad idea.

These would-be radicals clearly haven't seen how the Egyptian army runs or they wouldn't be making these outlandish claims. They would be crushed under heel and the army cares not for human rights. It's similar to how Russia keeps an impressively tight noose on radical Islam, compared to Western powers.

You can also see the treatment of Mohammed Mursi by the army. They take no ****, even from moderates.
 
Last edited:
Yeah because the Taliban didn't blow up those ancient Buddhist monuments :rolleyes:

The Chemist said:
From what I can tell there is no Islamic reasoning behind this either...
Click to expand...

They are 'pagan' structures, built by non-Muslims maybe to worship dead men. There is plenty of reason for the intolerant Islamists to get rid of them.


It seems a lot of people are still in denial about who they really supported in the Arab Spring. It was not freedom-loving democrats as you are finding out.
 
It is pretty obvious that the majority of religions taken to their logical conclusion would wish to erase knowledge of other religions. Buddhism is a potential exception to this generalisation.
 
KNiVES said:
It's similar to how Russia keeps an impressively tight noose on radical Islam, compared to Western powers.
Click to expand...

impressively tight?

They've been having their asses handed to them by Islamic rebels for decades killing huge numbers of civilians on both sides. :/
 
Guile said:
Yeah because the Taliban didn't blow up those ancient Buddhist monuments :rolleyes:



They are 'pagan' structures, built by non-Muslims maybe to worship dead men. There is plenty of reason for the intolerant Islamists to get rid of them.


It seems a lot of people are still in denial about who they really supported in the Arab Spring. It was not freedom-loving democrats as you are finding out.
Click to expand...

Good point, pretty stupid though as the scholars should perhaps more times addressing problems and calling for betterment within the muslim world. Is the massacre of Syria not happening? Egyptian people wont accept this though, and rightly so. I wonder how the ultras of FC Al Zalmamalek would take this news if they were told to remove the Pharaoh head from their clubs badge?
 
KNiVES said:
It's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone can say that with any certainty...

Unlikely at present as the Egyptian army can act as a buffer against any elected govt going too far - in a few years time... who knows what could happen...

Probably not going to happen but its not completely inconceivable that it could. Precedent has been set elsewhere by Islamic extremists.
 
What about American soldiers destroying prized heritage ruins and temples in Afghanistan? What about the damage to Babylonian ruins in Iraq? Not much media coverage about that, is there? and yet as soon as some random fringe group of nutters that have about 1 RPG between 18 of them makes a statement... entire world is up in arms. "Islamists want to destroy the seven wonders of the world!" Um, hel-lo? Anybody home?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom