People were busy in markets, shrines and homes, doing their work and living ordinary lives. They were happy with whatever they had. But suddenly, one day on 21st April 1802 they were attacked by the radical puritans also known as Wahhabis, under the command of Abdul Aziz Ibn Muhammad.
The term terrorist is today's word, but the Muslim world had faced terrorism decades ago. People were brutally killed, women were raped, treasury was looted and lands were usurped, shrines were demolished and markets were destroyed.
No, it was not ISIS, but the first Saudi State. They emerged just from within the Muslim community against the rule of Ottomon Empire, just like Khawarij emerged from within Muslims against the rule of the fourth Rashidun Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib.
Twelve thousand Wahhabi militants attacked the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf. During the siege they killed more than five thousand innocent men, women and children,
Shrine of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussain was attacked and destroyed in Karbala, and the shrine of the Prophet's cousin and fourth caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib in Najaf also met the same fate.
Renowned Wahhabi theologian Abdullah b. Bishr writes:
"Wahhabis scaled the walls, entered the city and killed the majority of its people in the markets and in their homes. They destroyed the dome placed over the grave of al-Husayn and took whatever they found inside the dome and its surroundings, the grille surrounding the tomb which was encrusted with emeralds, rubies, and other jewels, different types of property, weapons, clothing, carpets, gold, silver, precious copies of the Quran."
In the latter years, after the invasion of Hejaz, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud on 10th January 1926 declared himself the King of Arabian Peninsula, and named the peninsula Saudi Arabia after his tribe's name Saud. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has followed the footsteps of Sauds.
On 21st April 1926, King Ibn Saud attacked Makkah and Medina and destroyed all the glorious and beautiful shrines of the hundreds of notables and respected Islamic figures, in ISIS style.
Cemeteries of Al Baqi and Mualla were razed to the grounds and the shrines of the Holy Prophet's parents, uncles, aunts, companions, wives, children and grandchildren were demolished by the Saudi king in the name of the purification of Islam. All the historical and beautiful shrines were destroyed by the Saudi Mmnarch. That's what ISIS is doing today in Iraq and Syria – just following the footsteps of the Saudi monarch.
It is what a renowned Pakistani Wahhabi scholar residing in Saudia Arabia, Shaikh Abu Talib Rehman confessed in one of his sermons that in its initial phase Daesh (ISIS) attracted the Wahhabis of the world by demolishing the shrines of the Prophets, Sufi saints and Shiite figures in Iraq and Syria to establish its goodwill in the hearts of Wahhabis, but later on it became too radical and uncontrollable.
The ideology behind the mindset of destroying the Shrines is easily understandable as famous Wahhabi scholar Sheikh Al Bani writes in Tehzir Al Sajid:
"It is obligatory for Muslims to bring back the grave of Prophet Muhammad in its original form and restore it in its original shape like it was used to be in early times. And the grave of Prophet Muhammad should be separated from the Mosque of the Prophet and a wall should be build in between them. It is obligatory on Saudi rulers if they want to please Allah in following Tauheed (oneness of Allah) in its true spirit."
On the other side, a famous and widely celebrated Deobandi scholar of Pakistani origin Agha Shorish Kashmiri paid a 14-day visit to Saudi Arabia in the times of King Faisal. He writes in his book Shab Jaaye kay Mann Boodam:
"Shrines of the Al-Baqi Cemetery are desecrated and destroyed. Al-Baqi is now surrounded by the big, tall and huge plazas and buildings. Prophet never spent a luxurious life but today's Saudi rulers are living in royal palaces, but have demolished the shrine of Prophet's daughter Fatima and her sons Imam Hasan, Imam Zain ul Abideen, Imam Baqir and Imam Jafar. My heart is broken and I want to know when King Faisal will rebuild the shrines of Al-Baqi?"
The problem of desecration and destruction of the holy places and historical sites is not only limited to the Sunni Muslims but unfortunately it is also common in the Shia Muslims. However, they don't follow the Wahabi ideologues. But when religion is merged with politics, then it becomes a theocracy. Nothing is more disastrous than this.
Many people report that Sunnis are barred from offering prayers or building mosques in Shia Iran and many Shia friends usually answer the false claims calling it propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Fair enough, but what about the systematic persecution of the Bahai community of Iran?
A Pakistani Shia scholar Ameen Shaheedi took pride in Iran's state sponsored persecution of the Bahai community. More than 200 Bahais have been killed in Iran since its Islamic Revolution.
It is reported that in past decades, government authorities in Iran have demolished historic sites of great artistic and cultural significance, which are also sacred to the country's Bahai religious minority. The recent destruction of Bahai sacred sites is the latest tactic employed by Iran's ruling clerics in their decades-long effort to destroy the country's Bahai community.
They also destroyed a wrecking crew and demolished a stately home in Tehran that had belonged to Mirza Abbas Nuri, the father of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Bahai Faith: Mirza Abbas, 19th-century statesman, scholar and calligrapher. His home had been preserved as an exquisite example of Iranian-Islamic architecture.
The grave-site of Quddus, a prominent figure in early Bahai history, has been razed to the ground, since the Islamic Republic of Iran was founded in 1979. The Iranian Government has confiscated Bahai cemeteries, holy places and historical sites. Many have been destroyed, including the House of the Bab in Shiraz: one of the most sacred sites in the Bahai world, and the House of Baha'u'llah in Takur, where the founder of the Bahai faith spent his childhood.
Bahai cemeteries in Tehran, Shiraz and other cities have been desecrated. In Tehran alone, more than 15,000 graves in the Bahai cemetery were bulldozed to make way for construction of a municipal center in 1993.
It is now established that demolishing and destroying the grave sites, historical sites, holy shrines and cultural monuments of the religious and political opponents is the commonly inherited trait of the Muslim world irrespective of their sectarian affiliations.
After the battle of Karbala, people of Makkah and Madina denounced Yazid Ibn Muawia as their caliph and on 26th August 683, Battle of Harrah was fought between the armies of Yazid and Abdullah Ibn Zubair. Yazid's army of ten thousand men, under the command of Muslim bin Uqbah and Hajjaj Bin Yousuf fought with Abdullah Ibn Zubair and Abu Saeed Al Khudri.
They attacked the holy cities of Makkah and Madina. They killed the companions of Prophet Muhammad, raped hundreds of women, turned the Mosque of Prophet into a horse stable for 3 days and during the six-month siege of the Kaaba, Yazid’s army attacked and destroyed the Kaaba by catapults and ballista. Yazid was the first Muslim ruler who introduced the idea of demolition and destruction of historical sites and worship places in Islamic civilization.