Democracy Arrives in Libya: Sufi religious sites attacked and destroyed by Salafis
The barbarians destroying world heritage. The library was destroyed by those who have never read and one letter. What they know?
" Each radical part of religion creates fascism in people. Each radical part of religion creates Adolph Hitlers because of this idea that "My way is the only right way." And when you are a fascist and when you are a fanatic you are murderous. You may not murder, but deep down you are murderous. You may not murder anybody, but one thing is certain: you will murder your qualities of love and compassion and brotherhood."Osho
Sufi religious sites attacked and destroyed in just two days by Salafis
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Religious tensions are reaching record levels in Libya, with two Sufi religious sites attacked and destroyed in just two days by Salafis.
Attackers bulldozed a mosque containing Sufi Muslim graves in the centre of Tripoli in broad daylight on Saturday.
Inside the mosque, empty graves lay gaping in the rubble.
“A large number of armed militias carrying medium and heavy weapons arrived at the al-Sha’ab mosque with the intention to destroy the mosque because of their belief graves are anti-Islamic,” said a government official who declined to be named.
Salafis have formed a number of armed brigades in Libya. They reject as idolatrous many Sufi devotions - which include dancing and the building of shrines to venerated figures.
It was the second razing of a Sufi site in two days. Ultra-conservative Islamists wrecked Sufi shrines with bombs and another bulldozer and set fire to a mosque library in the city of Zlitan in the early hours of Friday.
On Friday attackers razed the revered resting place of Abdel Salam al-Asmar in Zlitan, about 160 km (90 miles) west of the capital, and also set fire to a historiclibrary in a nearby mosque, ruining thousands of books.
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.
Islamists in Mali
After smashing three ancient tombs, the Islamist militants who consider the World Heritage shrines idolatrous, set about wrecking four mausoleums at the cemetery of Djingareyber, World Heritage Site.
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A Facebook page titled “Together for the Removal of the Abdel Salam al-Asmar Shrine” congratulated supporters on the “successful removal of the Asmar shrine, the largest sign of idolatry in Libya.”.
Three journalists from the Al-Assema television station were detained by the Supreme Security Committee this afternoon in relation to their coverage of the destruction of the Al-Sha’ab mosque in Tripoli.
The incident is a clear violation of press freedom in pro-NATO GNC's Libya
Following their coverage of the event, Al-Assema’s managing director, Nabil Shebani, together with two reporters, were called to the SSC for interrogation.
Shebani was released late this evening, but it is not yet known if the two reporters have also been freed.
Despite reports of journalists being arrested for attempting to cover the demolition yesterday, an Al-Jazeera camera crew was operating at the site uninhibited this afternoon.
Meanwhile in Libya Salafists handing out leaflets - Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi school of Islam.
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Salafis are intolerant of other schools of Islam and have physically attacked Muslim minorities in other parts of the Arab world, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Many Muslims frequent the shrines of saints, believing the holy men have powers of intercession with the divine. Salafis, however, believe these are pagan rites that must be obliterated from Islam, in line with the teachings of the founder of the Salafi movement, Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd el-Wahab (1703-1792) whose philosophy has been the official doctrine of Saudi Arabia since the end of the eighteenth century. Its adherents prefer to call themselves Salafis.
The Wahhabi teachings disapprove of the veneration of historical sites associated with early Islam on the grounds that only God should be worshipped and that veneration of sites associated with mortals leads to idolatry. Many buildings associated with early Islam, including mausoleums and other artifacts, have been destroyed in Saudi Arabia by Wahhabis from the early nineteenth century through the present day.
Indeed, this version of fundamentalist Islam is not typical of Libyan Islam. Moderate Libyan and North African Islam has receded in the face of Wahhabi Islam coming from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.
Under Gaddafi, Libya succeeded mostly in containing the Salafi push. But in areas remote from the center (Benghazi), the Salafis, together with al-Qaeda elements that apply a strict Wahhabi Islam, succeeded not only to survive the persecutions of the Gaddafi regime, but also succeeded in proselytizing their school of thought among the Libyans Wahhabi who were the backbone of the fighters in Afghanistan.
Throughout Libya, war has emboldened Salafis. They have increased their public presence, taken over mosques, and even raised the flag of al-Qaeda over the courthouse in Benghazi.
Gaddafi’s disappearance and the link between the Qatari regime and the fighting militias particularly exposed the connection with Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the head of the Tripoli Military Council and former Guantanamo Bay inmate, and has created a situation where the military commanders of Libya are part and parcel of the Salafi-Wahhabi school of Islam.
This explains their attitude towards the prevalent Sufi Islam in North Africa.
A group of people including government security personnel have bulldozed the Sha'ab mosque, containing many graves, in the center of Tripoli on Saturday over allegations that a Sufi Muslim sect has been engaging in “black magic”.
The GNC Security Forces personnel were involved in the bulldozing. Authorities tried to stop the demolition, but after a small clash with the armed group, the police decided to cordon off the area while the destruction took place to prevent any violence erupting.
"A large number of armed militias carrying medium and heavy weapons arrived at the al-Sha'ab mosque with the intention of destroying the mosque because they believe graves are anti-Islamic," an anonymous government official told Reuters.
Reuters also has information that it was allegedly the Interior Ministry that gave the green light to the bulldozing after learning that Sufis had been worshipping the graves and practicing "black magic".
Tripoli’s Sha'ab mosque contained around 50 Sufi graves, including the tombs of Libyan Sufi scholar Abdullah al-Sha'ab and of soldiers who fought Spanish colonialists.
Mohamed al-Magariaf called the prime minister to an emergency meeting on Sunday.
On Friday, another attack on worship sites in the neighboring city of Zlitan by ultra-conservative Islamists destroyed the tomb of a 15th-century Sufi scholar and set the Mosque’s library on fire.
The vandals bulldozed the grave of Abdel Salam al-Asmar and set a historic library in a neighboring mosque ablaze, according to witnesses. The structure’s dome collapsed and a minaret was pitted with holes.
"We are distraught at the destruction of this historical and spiritual place in Libya," said Mohamed Salem, caretaker of the mosque.
Meanwhile, a Facebook page called "Together for the Removal of the Abdel Salam al-Asmar Shrine" praised supporters on the "successful removal of the Asmar shrine, the largest sign of idolatry in Libya."
Following the ousting of Colonel Gaddafi, cultural clashes between followers of the mystical Sufi tradition and ultra-conservative Salafis have taken central stage in the new Libya.
Sufism is a mystical sect of Islam which includes dancing and building of shrines to venerated figures. Followers make pilgrimages to them.
As Libyan authorities struggle to control countless armed rings that refuse to surrender weapons following last year’s civil war, Salafis, who say Islam should return to the simple ways followed by Mohammed, have established a number of armed gangs in Libya. They view Sufi practices as idolatrous.
Since the start of the Arab Spring uprising across the region, a number of Sufi sites have been attacked in Egypt, Mali and Libya.
Libyan Islamist hardliners use a bulldozer to raze the mausoleum of Al-Shaab Al-Dahman near the centre of Tripoli(AFP Photo / Mahmud Turkia)
A picture shows the destroyed section of the mausoleum of Al-Shaab Al-Dahman near the centre of Tripoli (AFP Photo / Mahmud Turkia)
Libyan Islamist hardliners use a bulldozer to raze the mausoleum of Al-Shaab Al-Dahman near the centre of Tripoli (AFP Photo / Mahmud Turkia)
* BENGHAZI - On January 13, extremists crashed a bulldozer through the walls of the old cemetery in the eastern city of Benghazi and Tripoli,destroyed its tombs and carried off 29 bodies of respected sages and scholars. They also demolished a nearby Sufi school.
* Christian church attacked in Libya
* ‘Rebels’ desecrate WWII cemetery in Benghazi [29. February 2011]
* [ 04 October 2011] Tripoli - Libyan Jew says armed men block him from synagogue day after he opened it.
