Calls to Destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids Begin
This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641. Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity. While most Western academics argue otherwise, according to early Muslim writers, the great Library of Alexandria itself—deemed a repository of pagan knowledge contradicting the Koran—was destroyed under bin al-As’s reign and in compliance with Caliph Omar’s command.
However, while book-burning was an easy activity in the 7th century, destroying the mountain-like pyramids and their guardian Sphinx was not—even if Egypt’s Medieval Mamluk rulers “de-nosed” the latter during target practice (though popular legend still attributes it to a Westerner, Napoleon).
Now, however, as Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sheikhs” observes, and thanks to modern technology, the pyramids can be destroyed. The only question left is whether the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt is “pious” enough—if he is willing to complete the Islamization process that started under the hands of Egypt’s first Islamic conqueror.
Nor is such a course of action implausible. History is laden with examples of Muslims destroying their own pre-Islamic heritage—starting with Islam’s prophet Muhammad himself, who destroyed Arabia’s Ka‘ba temple, transforming it into a mosque.
Asking “What is it about Islam that so often turns its adherents against their own patrimony?” Daniel Pipes provides several examples, from Medieval Muslims in India destroying their forefathers’ temples, to contemporary Muslims destroying their non-Islamic heritage in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, and Tunisia.
Egypt's Government Planning to Destroy the Great Pyramids?
http://www.christianpost.com/news/egypts-government-planning-to-destroy-the-great-pyramids-77996/
By Stoyan Zaimov ,
Christian Post Reporter
July 10, 2012|5:07 pm
An online magazine has offered translations to Arabic news sources that purportedly indicate that Egypt's Salafi party has come forth with plans to demolish Egypt's Great Pyramids in an effort to bring down what it calls "symbols of paganism."
Egypt's new
President Mohamed Mursi delivers a speech during a ceremony where the military
handed over power to Mursi at a military base in Hikstep, east of Cairo, June 30, 2012.
Mursi was sworn in on Saturday as Egypt's first Islamist, civilian
and freely elected president, reaping the fruits of last year's revolt against
Hosni Mubarak, although the military remains determined to call the shots. The
military council that took over after Mubarak's overthrow on February 11, 2011,
formally handed power to Mursi later in an elaborate ceremony at the desert
army base outside Cairo.
Al-Mahmoud's comments relate to Amr bin al-As, a companion of the Islam's founder Muhammad, who invaded Egypt in 641 and began destroying Egyptian artifacts. While an historical debate exists over the accuracy of such reports, some early Muslim writers have noted that Amr bin al-As even destroyed the great Library of Alexandria, which was a hub of knowledge for the ancient world.
Amr bin al-As, however, did not have the means to destroy the massive pyramid structures back then, but the Salafi party now has the technology available to do just that. As a Daily Mail article from last year notes, one suggestion is to dump massive amounts of wax on the pyramids, turning them into disfigured blobs, helping complete the total destruction of Egypt's pagan past that was started under the reign of the country's first Islamic conqueror.
The FrontPage Magazine article goes into detail offering examples of contemporary Muslims across several African and Middle Eastern countries destroying their ancestors' past, seeing themselves as part of a larger Islamic community rather than members of individual states.
"Much of this hate for their own pre-Islamic heritage is tied to the fact that, traditionally, Muslims do not identify with this or that nation, culture, or language, but only with the Islamic nation – the Umma," the article states.
"Accordingly, while many Egyptians – Muslims and non-Muslims alike – see themselves first and foremost as Egyptians, Islamists have no national identity, identifying only with Islam's 'culture,' based on the 'sunna' of the prophet and Islam's language, Arabic," it claims.
Readers responding to the article have mostly expressed opposition to purported plans to destroy the pyramids in Egypt.
"To my Muslim and non Muslim friends in Egypt......(run) the Islamic brotherhood will do to Egypt what al-quida [sic] did to Afghanistan anything of beauty and culture will be destroyed," wrote a user named "Boadicea."
"At some point, monuments like the Sphinx and the Pyramids, like the Mayan Pyramids, become historical sites for all mankind, they don't belong to Egypt alone. Like the Mexican pyramids, they are so ancient as to supersede the current owners of the land. These are monuments of ancient, not current civilizations," added a reader named "libertywolf."
"All of humanity has a stake in their continued existence. I do hope the UN (which might still have some purpose if they can pull this off) will fight for their continued survival if it comes to that. I am not sure what else can be done, except to put pressure on the Egyptian government from many quarters to cease and desist. This is insanity!" the reader added.
