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The Drawback of Destroying Old Sites and Putting Up New Buildings in Mecca

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Mosque Project

Since pre-Islamic times Mecca has always been known as a sacred site, however due to mass construction and modernization, the sacredness of this holy city may be slowly dying. Mecca contains the Holy Mosque and the Kaaba. The Kaaba is a tall, box-like structure which stands in a courtyard in the center of the Holy Mosque, and it became established as the main object of pilgrimages to Mecca (Dictionary of Islamic Architecture). Mecca is the birth place of the prophet Muhammad and contains a lot of important historical sites such as the site where Muhammad was born, the house of the prophet’s wife Khadijah and the house of Abu Bakr, as well as Muhammad’s grandson’s house which was flattened by the King’s palace. All of these …show more content…

I think that there are two sides. One being the Saudi Arabian government who operate under Wahhabism, in which they think that it is good to demolish Islamic historical sites (such as the birthplace of Muhammad, or the house he lived in) because they see it as encouraging sinful idolatry. I get that they think that people may start worshiping those historical sites and lose focus on the heart of Islam, but I don’t think that is their only motive. I think that the Saudi Arabian government sees a lot of other cities and countries modernizing and urbanizing themselves and making advances in architecture and having a more modern way of life, and I think they are afraid to get stuck. What I mean by that is they are afraid that because the holy mosque is in Mecca, that there city will never make cultural advances but rather be stuck back in the time of the prophet. It is easy to forget that Mecca is a city just like any other, which just happens to house the holy mosque. While it is a mainly visited by Muslims doing the hajj, it is also visited by Nonmuslims and has other attractions than the mosque and Kaaba and I think that the Saudi Arabian government is trying to expand that aspect of Mecca. The other side of the argument is that in destroying historical sites, and building skyscrapers around the mosque, it takes away for the sacredness of the place as well as the spiritual aspect of the Hajj as a whole. I think lots people

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