Islamic State jihadis destroy 3,000 year old artworks
in Mosul museum
Besides removing supposed temptations to
idolatry, Islamic jihadists want to ruin the artifacts of non-Muslim
civilizations because doing so testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur’an
suggests that ruins are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his
truth:
Many were the Ways of Life that have
passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of
those who rejected Truth. (Qur’an 3:137)
This
is one of the foundations of the Islamic idea that pre-Islamic civilizations,
and non-Islamic civilizations, are all
jahiliyya — the society of
unbelievers, which is worthless. Obviously this cuts against the idea of
tourism of ancient sites and non-Muslim religious installations such as St.
Catherine’s monastery. V. S. Naipaul encountered this attitude in his travels
through Muslim countries. For many Muslims, he observed in
Among the
Believers, “The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of
Muslim theology. History has to serve theology.” Naipaul recounted that some
Pakistani Muslims, far from valuing the nation’s renowned archaeological site
at Mohenjo Daro, saw its ruins as a teaching opportunity for Islam, recommending
that Qur’an 3:137 be posted there as a teaching tool.
“
ISIS
thugs take a hammer to civilisation: Priceless 3,000-year-old artworks smashed
to pieces in minutes as militants destroy Mosul museum,” by Julian Robinson,
February 26, 2015 (thanks to Anne Crockett):
Islamic
State thugs have destroyed a collection of priceless statues and sculptures in
Iraq dating back thousands of years.
Extremists
used sledgehammers and power drills to smash ancient artwork as they rampaged
through a museum in the northern city of Mosul.
A group of bearded men in the
Nineveh Museum using tools to wreck
3,000-year-old statues after pushing them over.
Militant
uses a power tool to destroy a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity at the
Ninevah Museum in Mosul, Iraq. The statue dates back to the 9th century B.C.
One
of the items, depicting a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity, dates back to
the
9th century B.C.
A
man shown in the video said the items were being destroyed because they
promoted idolatry.
‘The
Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the
same when they conquered countries after him,’ the unidentified man said.
The
articles destroyed appeared to come from an antiquities museum in the northern
city of Mosul, which was overrun by Islamic State last June, a former employee
at the museum told Reuters.
The
extremist group has destroyed a number of shrines – including Muslim holy sites
– in a bid to eliminate what it views as heresy.
Militants
are also believed to have sold ancient artwork on the black market in order to
finance their bloody campaign across the region.
The
video bore the logo of the ISIS group’s media arm and was posted on a Twitter
account used by the group.
Yesterday
it was revealed how terrorists had blown up the Mosul Public Library, sending
10,000 books and more than 700 rare manuscripts up in flames.
Leading
members of Mosul society reportedly tried to stop the fanatics destroying the
building, but failed.
