News4 March 29, 2013 • www.easterneye.eu • Like us on www.facebook.com/easterneye

by IMRAN CHOUDHURY

MUSLIM leaders and archaeol-ogists have expressed “grave concerns” over a billion-pound expansion plan in Mecca which they claim is destroying the heritage of Islam.

Images obtained by the Is-lamic Heritage Research Foun-dation (IHRF), set up to protect Islam’s holy sites, found one of the oldest parts of the Grand Mosque that houses the Ka’bah, which Muslims face when pray-ing, is being demolished by Sau-di Arabian authorities.

Other areas earmarked for demolition include the Prophet Muhammad’s birth place which is set to become a car park, ac-cording to archaeologists.

It is part of a costly expansion project to create more space for the millions of pilgrims who visit the holy site for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Last year around 25,000 Brit-ish Muslims went to Mecca to perform the Hajj.

Dr Irfan Al Alawi, executive director of IHRF, told Eastern Eye that the new generation of Muslims would not have a clue where key events in Islamic his-tory took place.

“Columns and arches which date back 500 years are being demolished at the moment. They date back to a historical period and pinpoint the special occasion where Prophet [Mu-hammad] made his heavenly journey to Jerusalem. Because of the demolition, the new gen-eration who go there wouldn’t have a clue where it was.

“It’s becoming less historical and more of a legend. When they wipe away these significant sites, we would not have any proof left, except pictures.”

The King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, has argued his reli-gious duty is to spend “whatever wealth and effort” necessary to improve facilities for Muslims going on the pilgrimage.

The area, which used to be a simple desert town, is now filled with shopping malls, skyscrap-ers and the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, built after the demolition of an 18th century fortress which now overshad-ows the Ka’bah.

Dr Alawi has campaigned against the demolition of key sites in Mecca and wants Mus-lims to be more vocal.

“My fear is most Muslims in the West don’t have a clue about what has been removed.

“When a brick is removed in Masjid Al Aqsa in Jerusalem, the third holiest mosque, we have protests and we have people writing against it.

“But when the Ka’bah, the ho-liest place in Islam, was taken down brick by brick in 1986 no one did anything about it.”

He revealed the Saudi Binla-din Group, the contruction firm behind the expansion plans, will be knocking down the place where the Prophet was born within the next two years.

“They will not allow me to excavate the area like I did at the house of the Prophet’s wife Khadija, which was turned into public toilets. We know that if we excavate there we will defi-nitely find some relics.”

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, as-sistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told EE he discussed the issue with officials who are in-volved with the extension.

“I think we should open up channels of communication with the planning committee in Saudi Arabia and register with them our concerns and the an-guish it is causing,” he said.

“As long as it (expansion) can be done sensibly, exploring in-novative ways of protecting our history and heritage then it would be a win win situation.But to totally wipe out many traces of such historic and im-portant heritage is a big loss.”

Dilwar Hussain, president of the Islamic Society of Britain, said Muslims are worried about the expansion plans.

“The pilgrimage to Mecca is an experience that is connected with the history of the region. There is always a need to ex-pand and progress. But when progress means the eradication of historical relics, I wonder how ‘progressive’ that really is?

“In Britain and elsewhere, the best new developments in ar-chitecture are designed to be in harmony with heritage and tra-dition,” Hussain explained.

“Progress in the Quranic tra-dition is about balance, and when we eradicate important history to build new things, what we really show is a lack of perspective and balance.”

London’s Saudi Embassy was not available for comment.

ETHNIC minority children are outperforming white British students according to a thinktank, writes Zoha Tapia.

Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and Indian students are above the national average in getting five A*-C GCSE grades as opposed to white British chil-dren, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

The figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act said some groups like Portu-guese, Congolese and Yemeni students are un-der-achieving as well.

Jill Rutter, IPPR associate, said: “Many children of migrants perform very well in school. London has the highest proportion of migrant children in its schools, yet secondary schools have per-

formed better and improved at a faster rate over the last 10 years than elsewhere in the country. But some groups are still being left behind.”

She added some migrant communities were left behind as the government had neglected in-tegration and focussed on migration targets.

Rutter said: “The question of integration has been neglected by policy makers.

“The government has failed to set out the kind of integration policies that an increasingly di-verse UK needs, and has instead focused on its net migration target.

“The government needs to make the citizen-ship process more meaningful to promote inte-gration, rather than restricting access to citizen-ship in order to hit its net migration target.”

Research shows migrant pupils are outshining British students in the classroom

UK MUSLIMS CONCERNED AT SAUDI HOLY SITES BEING DEMOLISHED

Worry over Mecca makeover plans

SACRED: (Clockwise from main picture) Mecca clock tower;

Grand Mosque being re-built; and Prophet Muhammad’s birth place