News for The WatchMen. Collected news from different resources. This blog is an extension for the website: 'The WatchMen from Israel'.

But everyone is welcome to look around and to pray with us please bring a visit to our website. If you have a Prayer Request after reading a Post please click 'Prayer request' (on the right link to secured website) and we post it on The Feet of The Mountain of YHWH.

Comments

If you have a question or like to say something in connection with the Post, you can put it as a Comment. And other people can answer. Please hold ‘our goal ’in reacting: coming together in Love the Love of Yeshuah Rabbeinu our Messiah. Yeshuath YHWH.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Mecca for the rich: Islam's holiest site 'turning into Vegas'


Historic and culturally important landmarks are being destroyed to make way for luxury hotels and malls, reports Jerome Taylor


A £690m expansion of the Grand Mosque in Mecca has begun to accommodate an extra 1.2 million pilgrims a year
GETTY IMAGES
A £690m expansion of the Grand Mosque in Mecca has begun to accommodate an extra 1.2 million pilgrims a year
Behind closed doors – in places where the religious police cannot listen in – residents of Mecca are beginning to refer to their city as Las Vegas, and the moniker is not a compliment.
Click HERE to download graphic: Mecca For The Rich (430.39kB)
Over the past 10 years the holiest site in Islam has undergone a huge transformation, one that has divided opinion among Muslims all over the world.
Once a dusty desert town struggling to cope with the ever-increasing number of pilgrims arriving for the annual Hajj, the city now soars above its surroundings with a glittering array of skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels.
To the al-Saud monarchy, Mecca is their vision of the future – a steel and concrete metropolis built on the proceeds of enormous oil wealth that showcases their national pride.
Yet growing numbers of citizens, particularly those living in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have looked on aghast as the nation's archaeological heritage is trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own heritage. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Mohamed insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, critics say, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city's raison d'ĂȘtre.
Few are willing to discuss their fears openly because of the risks associated with criticising official policy in the authoritarian kingdom. And, with the exceptions of Turkey and Iran, fellow Muslim nations have largely held their tongues for fear of of a diplomatic fallout and restrictions on their citizens' pilgrimage visas. Western archaeologists are silent out of fear that the few sites they are allowed access to will be closed to them. Read the rest on:
independentLondon



Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment