This article expresses some of my sentiments towards the vulgar, ostentatious and tasteless Makka Clock Tower dwarfing, and thereby belittling the Holy Kaba Sharif. These Saudi Jahils have also bulldozed and razed to dust archeological evidences of the houses and graves of the relatives and sahabas of the Prophet (PBUH). No other religious group has shown such disrespect towards its founding Prophet's physical memorials, heritage and living surroundings as has these Saudi Jahils who are the true enemies of Islam.
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:48:46 +0100
Subject: JUMMA MUBARAK - WHAT A SAD STORY
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:48:46 +0100
Subject: JUMMA MUBARAK - WHAT A SAD STORY
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Karmali@bigpond.net au <karmali@bigpond.net.au>
Date: 13 June 2013 23:28
Subject: JUMMA MUBARAK TO ALL,SAD U HAVE TO READ THIS VULGARITY BY SAUDI GOVN,SPENDING THEIR
To:
Modern Makkah: That's What I Hate
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Wajid Ali Khan Panni
From: Karmali@bigpond.net au <karmali@bigpond.net.au>
Date: 13 June 2013 23:28
Subject: JUMMA MUBARAK TO ALL,SAD U HAVE TO READ THIS VULGARITY BY SAUDI GOVN,SPENDING THEIR
To:
Country's WEALTH,on this shameful towers n shopping Malls,
LEAVE THE ESSENCE IF OUR HOLY KABA WILL U.
SHAME SHAME SHAME ON THESE SO CALLED MUSLIM RULERS.
Modern Makkah: That's What I Hate
By Yomna El-Saeed
OnIslam, 29 May 2013
I've never imagined that after visiting Makkah I'll write criticizing something about it!
Let me make this point clear, dearest reader. I'm, of course, not criticizing the holy city; I'm criticizing the impact of the human factor on this city.
Shopping Spree in Makkah
I performed umrah for my late grandmother. After I finished it, heading to the tower of my hotel, all I was doing was praying to Allah "please accept it from me".
My mind was busy thinking about grandma; wondering if she's received the reward of my umrah or not. And while I was drowning in my thought I mistakenly entered a wrong door. I didn't notice that I was in a wrong tower; I thought I was in my tower but from a different door, so I kept walking looking for a way to my hotel.
Less than 10 minutes later I forgot all about my freshly-performed umrah, my grandma, and my hotel. Why? Because I was surrounded by super luring shops; selling all kinds of clothes, perfumes, make-up, accessories, skin care products, watches and jewelry. Even sushi (one of my favorite foods) restaurants were around me.
While my eyes were looking for my hotel's entrance, they were caught by the wonderful diversity of merchandise and the attractive promotions. My flowing river of supplication was quickly dried. I even forgot I was in Makkah!
Welcome to Abraj Al-Bait Tower or the Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower.
The Clock Tower
The Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower holds several world records. It is the tallest hotel in the world, the tallest clock tower in the world, the largest clock face in the world as well as the world's largest building floor area. It is the second tallest building in the world, surpassed only by Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
The hotel tower is topped by a four-faced clock, visible from more than 25 kilometers away. The clock house and the spire are 200 meters high. (London's Big Ben is only 96.3 meters). Each of the clock's four faces is 46 meters in diameter. The minaret and its base have massive loudspeakers that emit prayer calls to a distance of 7 kilometers, with nearly 21,000 lamps illuminating the surrounding area to a distance of 30 kilometers.
The tower has a five-story shopping mall and a parking garage capable of holding over a thousand vehicles. Towers house permanent residents with two heliports and a conference center to accommodate business travelers [!]. The tower also has a prayer room capable of holding more than 10,000 people [!]. Up to 100,000 people could be housed inside the towers.
Case Against Makkah's Clock Tower
The Clock Tower is not new; it first started ticking at the start of Ramadan 2011, amid hopes by Saudi Arabia it will become the Muslim world's official timekeeper. I was against it back then. But when went to Makkah and I saw it my anger multiplied. I wish I went to Makkah before it was built.
First of all, in the very place of The Royal Clock Tower was "Ajyad Fortress"; a historic fortress built on Bulbul Mountain that dates back to the Ottoman Empire. Ottomans constructed it in the late 18thcentury to protect the Ka'ba and provide housing and protection to pilgrims. The Saudi government demolished Ajyad Fortress and leveled most of the mountain in 2002 to make space for the $533 million construction project. I wish I was making this up.
Unlike the fortress that was once in the same place, the hotel is clearly not for ordinary pilgrims; but the wealthiest among them.
Separating Muslims
Pilgrims of Hajj and Umrah circulate the Ka'ba with their feet bare and dress in simple white towels coffin-wannabe ihramclothes to signify humility before Allah and equality among Muslims. They pray together in perfect circles, unified by a perfect intangible thing: faith.
But during the breaks between fulfilling the rituals, wealthy pilgrims will be enjoying in the lap of utter luxury and watching the mainstream perform the rituals in the blistering heat of Makkah's summer, or in its rainy winter from far above while nibbling on the world's finest caviar and the best food from all over the globe.
Makkah is the busiest spot to worship Allah. People circulate the Ka'ba, pace between Safa and Marwa, drink Zamzam water, pray extra prayers day and night because the reward of every prayer is multiplied by a hundred thousand, or at least look at the Ka'ba which is a blissful worship.
But Muslims get distracted from all of this to sink in shopping spree; spending lavishly on their materialistic needs to look fancy and feel fancy in Makkah and when they go back to their homes.
Hajj and umrah are all about leaving dunya (worldly affairs) behind, heading to Allah, and uniting Muslims. This tower is undoing all of this.
The whole world is rapidly changing toward materialism. I wish Holy Makkah was immune.
Not that Close to the Ka'ba, please!
I adore the minarets of Al-Masjid Al-Haram. I love staring at their dark grey marble, at their height and feeling tiny beside them. But unfortunately they look tiny compared to the tower. I always avoided looking at the tower when I looked at the minarets, in order for them not to lose their majesty in my eyes.
The Ka'ba is surrounded by very close high towers and construction sites. I expect these buildings to be demolished for further expansion of the Haram. If not within a couple of years, it will definitely take place within a couple of decades.
These tall buildings are too close to the Ka'ba, look like tall men surrounding a small baby and making them unable to breathe. Wide-angle aerial view makes Ka'ba looks like a mere tiny black box. The Ka'ba loses its attraction and dignity between this crowd!
In Paris, the ancient Egyptian obelisk in Palace De La Concorde is surrounded by enough empty space. And the buildings around it are shorter than it. This was intentionally made to give the visitors the chance to feel the beauty and majesty of the obelisk without distraction. Isn't the Ka'ba worth the same treatment?
If the Ka'ba could speak imagine what it would say about being dwarfed by a fancy tower?
Can we possibly see a huge tower like such in St. Peters Square in Vatican City? I believe not.
Amid this vulgar extravagance, my heart bleeds remembering our starving Somali siblings, or remembering the poor Muslims accepting baptism in return for few hundreds of dollars.
Our ummah direly needs this whole lump sum of money in many different ways, but definitely not in this way, I believe.
http://www.onislam.net/english/culture-and-entertainment/travels-a-adventures/457320-modern-makkah-thats-what-i-hate.html
Picture: http://safartour.blogdetik.com/tag/makkah/
OnIslam, 29 May 2013
I've never imagined that after visiting Makkah I'll write criticizing something about it!Let me make this point clear, dearest reader. I'm, of course, not criticizing the holy city; I'm criticizing the impact of the human factor on this city.
Shopping Spree in Makkah
I performed umrah for my late grandmother. After I finished it, heading to the tower of my hotel, all I was doing was praying to Allah "please accept it from me".
My mind was busy thinking about grandma; wondering if she's received the reward of my umrah or not. And while I was drowning in my thought I mistakenly entered a wrong door. I didn't notice that I was in a wrong tower; I thought I was in my tower but from a different door, so I kept walking looking for a way to my hotel.
Less than 10 minutes later I forgot all about my freshly-performed umrah, my grandma, and my hotel. Why? Because I was surrounded by super luring shops; selling all kinds of clothes, perfumes, make-up, accessories, skin care products, watches and jewelry. Even sushi (one of my favorite foods) restaurants were around me.
While my eyes were looking for my hotel's entrance, they were caught by the wonderful diversity of merchandise and the attractive promotions. My flowing river of supplication was quickly dried. I even forgot I was in Makkah!
Welcome to Abraj Al-Bait Tower or the Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower.
The Clock Tower
The Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower holds several world records. It is the tallest hotel in the world, the tallest clock tower in the world, the largest clock face in the world as well as the world's largest building floor area. It is the second tallest building in the world, surpassed only by Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
The hotel tower is topped by a four-faced clock, visible from more than 25 kilometers away. The clock house and the spire are 200 meters high. (London's Big Ben is only 96.3 meters). Each of the clock's four faces is 46 meters in diameter. The minaret and its base have massive loudspeakers that emit prayer calls to a distance of 7 kilometers, with nearly 21,000 lamps illuminating the surrounding area to a distance of 30 kilometers.
The tower has a five-story shopping mall and a parking garage capable of holding over a thousand vehicles. Towers house permanent residents with two heliports and a conference center to accommodate business travelers [!]. The tower also has a prayer room capable of holding more than 10,000 people [!]. Up to 100,000 people could be housed inside the towers.
Case Against Makkah's Clock Tower
The Clock Tower is not new; it first started ticking at the start of Ramadan 2011, amid hopes by Saudi Arabia it will become the Muslim world's official timekeeper. I was against it back then. But when went to Makkah and I saw it my anger multiplied. I wish I went to Makkah before it was built.
First of all, in the very place of The Royal Clock Tower was "Ajyad Fortress"; a historic fortress built on Bulbul Mountain that dates back to the Ottoman Empire. Ottomans constructed it in the late 18thcentury to protect the Ka'ba and provide housing and protection to pilgrims. The Saudi government demolished Ajyad Fortress and leveled most of the mountain in 2002 to make space for the $533 million construction project. I wish I was making this up.
Unlike the fortress that was once in the same place, the hotel is clearly not for ordinary pilgrims; but the wealthiest among them.
Separating Muslims
Pilgrims of Hajj and Umrah circulate the Ka'ba with their feet bare and dress in simple white towels coffin-wannabe ihramclothes to signify humility before Allah and equality among Muslims. They pray together in perfect circles, unified by a perfect intangible thing: faith.
But during the breaks between fulfilling the rituals, wealthy pilgrims will be enjoying in the lap of utter luxury and watching the mainstream perform the rituals in the blistering heat of Makkah's summer, or in its rainy winter from far above while nibbling on the world's finest caviar and the best food from all over the globe.
Makkah is the busiest spot to worship Allah. People circulate the Ka'ba, pace between Safa and Marwa, drink Zamzam water, pray extra prayers day and night because the reward of every prayer is multiplied by a hundred thousand, or at least look at the Ka'ba which is a blissful worship.
But Muslims get distracted from all of this to sink in shopping spree; spending lavishly on their materialistic needs to look fancy and feel fancy in Makkah and when they go back to their homes.
Hajj and umrah are all about leaving dunya (worldly affairs) behind, heading to Allah, and uniting Muslims. This tower is undoing all of this.
The whole world is rapidly changing toward materialism. I wish Holy Makkah was immune.
Not that Close to the Ka'ba, please!
I adore the minarets of Al-Masjid Al-Haram. I love staring at their dark grey marble, at their height and feeling tiny beside them. But unfortunately they look tiny compared to the tower. I always avoided looking at the tower when I looked at the minarets, in order for them not to lose their majesty in my eyes.
The Ka'ba is surrounded by very close high towers and construction sites. I expect these buildings to be demolished for further expansion of the Haram. If not within a couple of years, it will definitely take place within a couple of decades.
These tall buildings are too close to the Ka'ba, look like tall men surrounding a small baby and making them unable to breathe. Wide-angle aerial view makes Ka'ba looks like a mere tiny black box. The Ka'ba loses its attraction and dignity between this crowd!
In Paris, the ancient Egyptian obelisk in Palace De La Concorde is surrounded by enough empty space. And the buildings around it are shorter than it. This was intentionally made to give the visitors the chance to feel the beauty and majesty of the obelisk without distraction. Isn't the Ka'ba worth the same treatment?
If the Ka'ba could speak imagine what it would say about being dwarfed by a fancy tower?
Can we possibly see a huge tower like such in St. Peters Square in Vatican City? I believe not.
Amid this vulgar extravagance, my heart bleeds remembering our starving Somali siblings, or remembering the poor Muslims accepting baptism in return for few hundreds of dollars.
Our ummah direly needs this whole lump sum of money in many different ways, but definitely not in this way, I believe.
http://www.onislam.net/english/culture-and-entertainment/travels-a-adventures/457320-modern-makkah-thats-what-i-hate.html
Picture: http://safartour.blogdetik.com/tag/makkah/
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Wajid Ali Khan Panni
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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