Re: Tears for Haramayn (I&II)

First, I wish to inform you, Mallam Adamu Adamu, that your Friday column is always my favourite and  a must read, particularly when the subject is on socio-political matters, be it on local or international issues. One cannot fault your presentations, analyses and strong views that are laced in very powerful English.

However Mallam, I must also let you know that I regrettably find it less exciting and difficult to commend your write-ups when you occasionally veer into Islamic discourse. My grouse is not much about the style of the presentation, but it is much to do with some shortcomings I have long observed.
Mallam, I have noticed that most often, your arguments on Islamic matters are not backed by any supportive quotes from either the Qur’an or the Hadith. You most often argue vainly as if you are discussing secular issues. Islam, as we all know it, is a complete and perfect religion with its rules, guidelines and ethos, as contained in the Qur’an and backed by the Sunnah of the Rasulullahi (SAW)  as captured in the authentic Hadith.
I, therefore, expect to read some verses from the Qur’an & Hadith to back your views on very sensitive issues. For instance, your longtime  dream and insistence that the management of the Hajj and custody of the two holy sites in Makka & Madinah be placed under the care of a world body, to be set up by the world Muslim ummah, in the same template as FIFA, which oversees the running of world football, has always been devoid of any empirical references to the Qur’an or the Hadith. Is that how Allah wants it? By the way Mallam, how does it sound to you, to compare this mundane thing as football and FIFA with Hajj and the custody of our holy sites? To me it sounds hollow, childish and unserious.
Besides, we have come to realise how FIFA has been running the management of football all this while, not with all these corruption charges, investigations and bans, etc that make daily headlines all over the place these days. Is this what you wish for Islam?
Who says the management of the Haramayn by your dream world body will not face similar, if not, worse crisis, in view of sectarian differences?
How do we for instance, reconcile the views of Shiites and the Tijjaniyas on Hajj rites, in relation to the historical monuments etc? Or how do you raise funds to foot the bills of the massive expansions of thw holy Masjids, being undertaken by the Saudis? Or how do you raise the huge resources needed for the daily management and maintenance of the holy Masjids  as is being done satisfactorily by the Saudis today? Many questions, I must say.
Well, Mallam since it is your wish that the world Muslim ummah set up a world body to run the Hajj and take custody of the holy sites, I wish to be educated on what Rasulullah (SAW) directed on the custody and management of Ka’aba when Makkans were defeated and the Muslim Ummah took over the Ka’aba. How were the two masjids in Makka and Madinah managed during the lifetime of the Prophet (SAW), the reigns of the four Caliphs, and thereafter. I also want to be educated on the running of the Hajj during the lifetime of the Prophet, the Caliphs & thereafter. I believe that these templates are pertinent to guide the Muslim Ummah in addressing your take on this issue.
Mallam, I have also observed your disdain in many of your write-ups for the ‘deliberate’ destruction of those relics and priceless Islamic monuments by the Saudis in their expansion projects. The problem here is that your arguments give the impression of a writer of some sort, who writes from the perspective of a non-Muslim, trying to propagate Western values, and or a kind of a historian or tourist or something to that  effect.
You hardly for instance make references to any verses in the Koran or Hadith to back you up. If, for instance, you wanted to debunk the ‘miserable Saudi Wahabi scholars’ on their concept of shirk as encompassed in their ‘misplaced, obsessive, compulsive shirk-phobia..  pamphlets’ which you believe cannot replace your so much cherished theology of mazhab, for whatever its worth, you could kindly have made references to the Qu’ran or the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). I’m saying this because this ‘miserable’ Saudi scholars’ most often, do not argue in vain. They do always quote verses from the Qur’an or Hadith to back their viewpoints.
Mallam, if you may know, the motive of the Saudis in destroying those Islamic monuments, by my understanding, is to prevent people, particularly the millions of pilgrims, from worshiping such relics and monuments beside Allah, which borders on shirk.
It is not convincing to tell us, that leaving such monuments would help in increasing a Muslim’s iman. No. You don’t have to see Allah before you believe He exists. You equally don’t have to see the ancient abodes of the Prophet (SAW), the caliphs and Sahabas before you as a Muslim believe that they once walked the surface of the earth. Allah has specified what you need to see during Hajj, unless you are talking from a non-Muslim perspective, perhaps on behalf of history students, tourists and western interests.
Mallam, I equally observed that in drawing up the list of countries that you think should make up the steering committee for the management of the Haramayn, countries like Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Malysia and the Muslim diaspora in the West, you overlooked the black race. Was that deliberate? May I also know, if you deliberately forgot, while listing Iran on that committee that, Iran has a poor record of organizing its local pilgrimages for the Shiite pilgrims to the tomb of Hussaini? Year in, year out, we read of the deaths of many of the Shiite’s so-called pilgrims from the frequent stampedes that most often, characterize such events.
Having raised these pertinent questions, I must commend you on your opposition to the Saudis turning the precincts of the two Holy Masjids into gigantic hotels. It is even worse to learn that these hotels are jointly owned by western tycoons. Is it because of the rents that accrue from such projects? No. There is no moral justification on the part of the Saudis. I don’t really see the rationale for the Saudis in indulging in such immoral projects. It is my belief therefore, that those sites on which those massive hotels were built, could best be turned into Masjids, as annexes to the main buildings to accommodate more pilgrims, or they could serve as learning institutions, libraries, etc. Ma’assalaam.
Muhammad ibn Umar can be reached at [email protected]