below The ancient
city of Palmyra in Syria
before the Islamic State
destroyed the heritage
site in 2015
right The Buddhas of
Bamiyan in Afghanistan
were destroyed by the
Taliban in 2001for the Nobel Prize – mysteriously disappeared. In the Syrian
city of Idlib, the statue of the famous Muslim philosopher
Abu Ala’ Al Maer’i was destroyed. In Iraq, the statues of
renowned Abbasid-era poet Abu Tammam and musician
Abu Osman Al-Mosuli – as well as the famous “Spring Girl”
monument – were obliterated. A bomb was used to destroy
the statue of Abu Jaafar Al Mansour, the founder of the
Abbasid Caliphate.
In Jordan, college art projects have also been targeted.
One graduate went to collect her artwork from university,
only to find that her sculpture project – along with 10 others
- had been torn down.
It seems that the Arab Spring “has turned sour”, writes
journalist Osama al-Shariff, continuing: “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; to doubt
and ask questions, and to celebrate our free thinkers, not join
in the ritual defacing of their statues.”
But in societies imbued with numerous cultural and
religious taboos, this voice of reason can be drowned out.
Despite the strong condemnation of such acts from the
international community – as well as from many renowned
Muslim clerics – acts of aggression taken out on heritage
sites, and artwork in general, have accelerated.
art