MUSLIMS WARNED OF EFFORTS TO REMOVE PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S TOMB

 By Andi Abdussalam
          Jakarta, Sept 4 (Antara) - A noted Indonesian Muslim cleric has forewarned the Muslim communities of possible efforts to disunite and create unrest among the Islamic world through plans to remove the Prophet Muhammad's tomb to an anonymous site.
         "It is possible that the proposal to remove the tomb is a maneuver launched by a certain group to create unrest among the Muslim communities," Hasyim Muzadi, former general chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and secretary general of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars, said on Wednesday.
         He made the remarks in response to a report by London-based The Independent on Monday, September 1, 2014, on a proposal by a leading Saudi academic Dr Ali bin Abdulaziz al-Shabal of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh to remove the Prophet's grave.
         The Saudi academic had made the proposal through a 61-page document, which calls for the removal of the Prophet Mohammad's remains to the nearby Al-Baqi cemetery, where it will be interred anonymously.

 
         Muzadi appealed to the Indonesian government; Indonesian Islamic organizations, such as the Indonesian Ulemas Council; and every Indonesian Muslim cleric to reject the plans.
         He urged that every Muslim across the world should oppose the proposal. According to him, a similar proposal--based on Wahhabi thoughts--had indeed also emerged several years ago.
         Even in Wahhabi thoughts, every historic site should be destroyed because it could lead to "shirq" or idolatry. In fact, such beliefs are not true because the sites are important to Islamic history. If the issue is raised again, then every Muslims should condemn it.
         According to The Independent, the controversial proposals are part of the Saudi academic's consultation document, which was circulated among the supervisors of Al-Nabawi Mosque in Medina, where the remains of the Prophet are housed under the Green Dome, visited by millions of pilgrims and venerated as Islam's second-holiest site.
         Hardline Saudi clerics have long preached that the country's strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam prohibits the worship of any object or "saint," a practice considered "shirq" or idolatrous.
         Dr Irfan al-Alawi, director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told The Independent: "People visit the chambers where the Prophet's family lived and turn toward the burial chamber to pray."
    He warned that any attempt to carry out the removal could spark unrest. It also runs the risk of inflaming sectarian tensions between the two branches of Islam.
         "Now they want to prevent pilgrims from attending and venerating the tomb because they believe this is shirq, or idolatry. The only way they can stop people visiting the Prophet is to remove the tomb and move it into a cemetery," he said.
         There is no suggestion to indicate any decision has been taken to act on such plans, however.
         The Independent quoted Dr Alawi as saying that the consultation document for the Al-Nabawi Mosque in Medina had been circulated to the Committee of the Presidency of the mosque by the cleric.
         Several pages of the document have been published in the presidency's journal. They call for the destruction of rooms surrounding the tomb--used by the Prophet's wives and daughter.
        The document also calls for the Green Dome, which covers the tomb and the living quarters, to be removed, and the ultimate removal of the Prophet's remains to a nearby cemetery. It also calls for the removal of a hand-painted calligraphy documenting details of the Prophet's life and his family. 
   Hasyim expressed hope that Saudi Arabia will not follow the consultation document's call. He said the Saudi government could be "destroyed" if it follows the wishes of Wahhabis or the willingness of any group who wanted to remove the Prophet's tomb from Al-Nabawi Mosque to another place.
        "Saudi Arabia will be "destroyed" if it fulfills the proposal," he said when speaking at an Islamic Boarding Schools and Islamic Educators Forum in Jambi on Wednesday night. 
    The same criticism was also voiced by NU General Chairman Said Aqil Siroj.
         "We had condemned the plan since a long time ago," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday. He noted that in the past, the Hijaz Committee, which was the precursor of the establishment of NU, had also campaigned for rejecting the removal of Prophet Muhammad's grave and other holy sites in Saudi Arabia.
         "If the Saudi government actually carries out the proposal, it will witness its own ruin," warned Said Aqil.
         He said the Central Executive Board (PBNU) of NU will urge the Indonesian government to respond to and reject the plans to remove.
        "The PBNU will ask the Indonesian president to write to the Saudi government to not remove the tomb," he stressed.
         Based on the consultation document, the tomb, which is located within the complex of the Al-Nabawi Mosque, should be removed to an anonymous location in the Al-Baqi cemetery.
         Said Aqil, who had obtained his doctorate degree on Sufism from the Ummul Qura University in Mecca, doubted the academic competence of the leading academic from Saudi who had produced the consultation document. "How could it be? He does not understand Islamic history," he argued.***3***