and statues that people in the past used to worship instead
of Allah. The so-called Assyrians and Akkadians and others
looked to gods for war, agriculture and rain to whom they
offered sacrifices... The Prophet Mohammed took down
idols with his bare hands when he went into Mecca. We were
ordered by our prophet to take down idols and destroy them,
and the companions of the prophet did this after this time,
when they conquered countries.” From this, some believers
have inferred that all statues are forbidden, regardless of their
artistic, cultural or historic value.
Such warnings through brazen acts of destruction have
reproduced aftershocks: According to this interpretation,
anyone is allowed – moreover, encouraged – to break statues
and works of sculpture, and destroy artefacts with impunity.Not many people in the Middle East have the freedom to
enjoy art and marvel at their cultural history. This fear has
been cultivated by certain doctrines which state that the
admiration of artistic work is heretical. There is a link in some
Middle Eastern cultures between statues and the worship of
idols; the appreciation of statues is therefore often construed
as blasphemous in some religious sects.
The rampant looting of centuries-old artefacts and the
ongoing destruction of thousands of years of antiquities have
brought about a sense of deep loss and bewilderment for
many people, in the Middle East, and abroad.
Beyond the horrors of war, the recent looting and
destruction of important cultural sites such as the Assyrian
city of Nimrud in Iraq and the oasis city of Palmyra in Syria
has shocked and devastated the international archaeological
community, as has the sight of sledgehammers breaking
through statues in the Mosul Museum in Iraq (even if some
of the pieces were not original, as it was later revealed after
the initial reports). Surely nothing will compensate for the
destruction of the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph in Palmyra
in Syria at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS), nor the
Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, which were blasted away
by the Taliban.
According to UNESCO’s assessment of the extent of
damage done to the World Heritage Site of the ancient city
of Aleppo in Syria, some 60 percent of the old city has been
severely damaged, with 30 percent totally destroyed.
In a video showing the destruction of the Mosul
Museum, the militants state that their devastating actions
served as a reminder of the Islamic teachings on the subject
of statues: “These ruins that are behind me, they are idols“Now is the time to say no to those
who want to impose their dogma
on us – to rediscover the thinking
of Hussein and Al Maeir’i”
Osama al-ShariffThis thinking has permitted – indeed, advocated – that
nothing is off-limits when it comes to vandalising statues and
sculptures in the name of anti-idolatry. As a result, several
statues of iconic figures in Arab history have been desecrated.
It’s not only ancient statues that have been subjected
to attacks backed by such dogma: The effigy of celebrated
Egyptian singer Um Kalthoum was covered with a veil, and
the statue of Taha Hussein – the first Arab author nominatedIMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK