Keywords

1 Introduction

Heritage exists in both natural and cultural forms, and the understanding of this dichotomy is a major step in coming to terms with its importance both in historical and contemporary discourses. The demarcation has been well clarified in articles 1 and 2 of the World Heritage Convention of 1972 adopted in Paris. For instance, article 1 considers cultural heritage to include monuments, groups of buildings and sites inherited from past generations, maintained in the present for the benefit of future generations, while article 2 classifies natural heritage as including geological and physiographic formation, natural features, and natural sites (UNESCO, 1972). Thus, it is obvious that while natural heritage occurs as a gift of nature to humanity with little input from man, cultural heritage is a manifestation of human ingenuity, creativity, and practices. While the two are particularly important to humanity, cultural heritage has, however, attracted more attention because it has come under more serious and sustained attacks in recent times. Therefore, discourses on heritage preservation have tended to focus more on cultural forms.

Cultural heritage comes in tangible and intangible forms. While the tangibles are the physical manifestations such as buildings, sites, monuments, paintings, sculptures and manuscripts, the intangibles are found in customs, mores, myths, values, and practices that define a people or society and have evolved over several generations. Cultural heritage is crucial to humanity because of its “existential, ideological, commercial and educational” values (Nilson & Thorel, 2018). It is basically a manifestation of the past and encompasses unique treasures of inestimable value bequeathed to humanity by ancient civilisations. As a legacy, it connects the present with the past and projects into the future. Heritage has proven to be part of the wealth of a nation and thus crucial to human existence, identity, and memory.

However, the destruction of monuments has featured across time and space because, in the words of Rachel Bokkem (2017) “destruction of physical or intangible artefacts that embody the ideas, beliefs, and characteristics of past societies is a well-tested means of control and power”. Thus, monuments, artefacts and landscapes have come under destructive intentional attacks. The need for the preservation of these valuable treasures has emerged as one of the major concerns of the global community. This particularly informs the establishment of the World Heritage Convention, which remains the most successful international legal instrument that propagates the protection of world cultural heritage (UNESCO, 2012).

Despite the concerted efforts of global bodies and agencies, World Heritage sites continually face vicious attacks. In fact, in recent times, a trend has emerged whereby Islam has been employed by terror groups to perpetrate violence against cherished World Heritage. Specifically, what could be regarded as the most brutal threat to World Heritage is the emergence of terror groups whose main agenda is the elimination of monuments and World Heritage, citing Islamic texts and injunctions as their authority for such actions (Isakhan & Zarandona, 2017). Through their violent actions, priceless World Heritage sites have been ruined. This destruction has been seen across nations like Nigeria and Mali in Africa and Syria and Iraq in the Middle East etc. As a result of this, some pertinent questions arise: what Islamic authority informs this violent destruction? What are the instances of such destruction globally? What can be done to reverse the narratives of destruction by the “Islamic” militants? This chapter interrogates these questions.

The chapter is divided into six sections. This first section introduces the topic; the second engages in historical and theoretical analysis of the relationship between religion and heritage; the third focuses on instances of heritage destruction by Islamist terrorists; the fourth examines their justification for doing so; the fifth examines the counterevidence to their narratives; the sixth provides a conclusion. The study is qualitative and relies heavily on published texts such as book chapters, journals, newspapers, magazines, the Qur’an, Hadith and internet sources.

2 Religion and Cultural Heritage

Since time immemorial, religion has played a prominent role in society. It has left indelible imprints on landscapes and fostered social relations, cultures and practices (Zeybek & Arslan, 2017). Indeed, a great number of what has come to us today as icons and monuments of inestimable value are inspired by religious belief, and the builders or creators saw the task of building or creating such monuments as their religious duty. Thus, important monuments such as the great pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx of Giza, Taj Mahal, Lumbini, Borobodur, Angkor Wat, Stonehenge, the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, the Buddhist images at Bamiyan, the mosques and Churches in Bosnia, the Djinguereber mosque and the treasured manuscripts in Timbuktu and several others are all connected to religious beliefs and knowledges of the people of the period in which they were made (Singh, 2008; Smith, 2015). In essence, it is difficult to separate religion from cultural images, which have come down to the present generation as heritage (Isakhan & Zarandona, 2017).

On the other hand, however, religion has featured prominently in the destruction of cultural heritage across time and space. According to Zeybek and Arslan (2017, p.3), history is replete with instances of the destruction of cultural heritage due to fanatic iconoclasm or the collateral effects of armed conflicts. In ancient Egypt, King Akhenaten, in his authority to introduce a new way of worship to his kingdom, ordered the destruction of all the old Egyptian gods (called Amun) and sent royal officials to chisel out every reference to the gods, including images, paintings, temples, tombs and cartouches (Encyclopaedia, 2018). The Roman Emperor Theodosius wanted to eradicate all vestiges of non-Christian society in Alexandria town and ordered the demolition of the Temple of Serapis (Zeybek & Arslan, 2017). In the same vein, the defacing of the great Sphinx of Giza was alleged to have been carried out by a Muslim conqueror who regarded Egyptian monuments as products of infidels that must be eviscerated (Giradi, 1995). In the Bible, the destruction of the Canaanites, including their landscape, arts and artefacts by the Israelites was justified by claims of instruction from God who gave them the permission to “drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you, and destroy all their idols, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places” (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Number 33:35). In 1299 CE, the Somnath Temple in Gujarat was invaded and destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate armies, based on Islam’s aversion to structures and images considered to be idols (Eaton, 2001).

In contemporary times, the Chinese Cultural revolution of 1966–1976, in a bid to foster atheism, witnessed the destruction of many iconic religious and secular images, artefacts and structures that bore semblance to China’s traditional past, which the Mao Zedong regime described as impediments to development. In 1992, Hindu zealots, led by Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrad Dal, destroyed the 430-year-old Babri Masji Ayodhya mosque in a show of intolerance towards the Muslim group (Tully, 2002). In South Korea, several Buddhist shrines and monuments have been set on fire by a group of people identified as Pentecostal Christian fundamentalists (Wells, 2000). In Brazil, several traditional religious devotees and their monuments, edifices and images have come under vicious attacks and been destroyed by a group of Pentecostal zealots called “Soldiers of Jesus” (McCoy, 2019).

These examples reveal a strong relationship between religion and cultural heritage. The relationship operates on two opposing levels: symbiotic and adversarial. On the first level is the reality that religion inspires monuments, which in return help to uplift the image and status of religious beliefs. That is why it is difficult to separate religion from most of the ancient cultural heritage, because, as argued by Singh (2008, p. 2), heritage sites are “places where the spirit of nature and culture meet and are additionally symbolized and maintained by people’s attachment to rituals performed there.” However, on the other hand, religion has been used as a cover to attack cultural materials. But those structures that are dubbed as idols or heathenish are products of other religious beliefs, symbolizing a clash of religious beliefs. The clash, however, reveals a deliberate attempt by one religion to obliterate the vestiges of another.

To a large extent, discourses on the destruction of cultural heritage can be subsumed under the rubric of intentional and unintentional perspectives of conflict and the rational choice theoretical perspective of terrorism. Arthur Westing (2008) argued that environmental destruction is one of the consequences of war, but that the consequences can be intentional or unintentional. Since the environment plays a crucial role in war, combatants do deliberately consider the environment in their planning and tactics (Olaniyan & Okeke-Uzodike, 2020). In the same vein, religious zealots employ tactics that result in the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, which is also part of the living environment, as a way of erasing the vestiges of what they consider inferior religion. Rational choice theory identifies terrorism as a deliberate act in which the perpetrators are conscious of their actions (Caplan, 2006; Anderton & Carter, 2005; Olaniyan, 2017). The theory argues that terrorism is a deliberate action that involves a high level of organisation, planning and calculation, meaning that the perpetrators of the destruction in the guise of terrorism knew what they were doing. They make deliberate decisions to destroy and plunder because they consider these artefacts as contrary to their interpretation of beliefs. It is within the context of intentional destruction as a rational choice that the current attacks by terror groups on cultural heritage in Islamic societies are situated.

3 Tales of Destruction

The Muslim world has come under the severe grip of terrorism, and casualties have seldom been human beings alone. There are tales of horror concerning materials as well, one of which is the wanton destruction of monuments, artefacts, culture and landscapes. The activities of the terrorists show a determination to obliterate history and the past from the Islamic world. The following are a few examples that will suffice to demonstrate this point. In March 2001, the Taliban militants blew up the 1500-year-old Bamiyan Buddhas statues in Afghanistan, to the outrage of the world (Asia News, 2009). In 2012, al-Qaida and Ansar Dine militants vandalized hundreds of ancient mausoleums, which were the resting places of Timbuktu’s legendary 333 saints and destroyed part of the iconic Djinguereber mosque in Timbuktu (Smith, 2015; Bello, 2020). In addition, 4203 pieces of the famous Timbuktu manuscripts from the Ahmed Baba Research Centre and many other libraries were destroyed by the same terror group (Smith, 2015; Williams, 2018). In March 2015, ISIS destroyed the Sufi shrines situated near Tripoli (Kingsley, 2015). In late December 2016, ISIS terrorists destroyed part of the Roman amphitheatre in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria (Bokkem, 2017), and beheaded Khaled Al-Asaad, the custodian of the Palmyra statues, for his refusal to show the terrorists the location of hidden statues (Hubbard, 2015). In 2009, a Taliban militant group targeted and destroyed much of Pakistan’s Buddhist artefacts left from the Buddhist Gandhara civilisation (Asia News, 2009). On 7 February 2012, militants stormed the national museum of the Maldives and destroyed Buddhist artefacts (Wright, 2012). In Syria, much of the country’s cultural heritage was destroyed by ISIS militants, such as the minaret of the Great Mosque in Aleppo, Al-Madina Souq, Krak des Chevailers, Khsruwiyah Mosque, Lion of Al-lat, the Temple of Bel and Baalshamin, the Palmyra Temple, the Arch of Triumph, the Monastery of St Elian and the Armenian genocide Memorial Mosque as well as several ancient sculptures in the city of Raqqa (Tastekin, 2017). In Iraq, ISIS destroyed much of the cultural heritage in the areas it controlled, which included 28 religious buildings, Shiites tombs, mosques, shrines and churches, the ancient city of Nimrod, the walls of Nineveh and the iconic Mosul library and museum (Khalid, 2015).

4 Justifying Destruction

Curiously, there are virtually no Quranic texts that directly sanction the destruction of cultural artefacts. There are, however, examples of traditions of the Prophet and his immediate followers regarding cultural artefacts, concerning which two major references can be made. The first says: “Shun the abomination of idols and shun the world that is false” (Holy Quran, 2021, 22:30). This verse is more of an admonition to believers to avoid idol worshipping. It did not outrightly sanction the destruction of such objects. However, it has become one of the means of justification for modern-day militants to destroy statutes. For example, after the destruction of Palmyra artefacts by ISIS militants, a justification that was posted in Dabiq, its propaganda magazine, reads thus: Baal is a false divinity for which people sacrificed their children as indicated in the book of Jeremiah (Old Testament). But by the Grace of Allah, soldiers of the Caliphate destroyed it (Isakhan & Zarandona, 2017).

This line of thought is also reflected in the dastard killing of Khalid al-Asaad, the custodian of Palmyra statutes, during the siege of ISIS on Syria. As reported by Bel Trew (2016),

The blood-soaked headless corpse of Khaled al-Asaad, 81, a former chief of the UNESCO world heritage site, was strung up on traffic lights by ISIS. His severed head was placed between his feet, and next to it was a sign accusing the antiquities expert of being an “apostate” and “director of idolatry” (Trew, 2016).

The second reference in the Quran contains the story of how Prophet Ibrahim destroyed idols in his father’s temple. The story goes that Prophet Ibrahim launched an overnight raid on his father’s shrine, axed every statue, except the biggest one upon which he hung the axe. By daybreak, he was confronted, and the following exchanges ensued:

… He said to his father and his people: ‘What do you worship? They said, ‘We worship idols, and to them we are ever devoted.’ He said: ‘Do they hear you when you call on them? Or do they benefit you or do they harm you?’ They said: ‘Nay but we found our fathers doing so (Holy Quran, 2021, 26:69–74)

Again, the Abraham story can be interpreted as more of a message for people to stop worshipping idols. However, the audacity of Abraham to confront his father and the entire leaders of the religion of the time, albeit successfully, has become a source of inspiration to modern-day militants in the Muslim world.

In the tradition of the Prophet, there is evidence of the outright removal of idols from society. The most popular of these Prophetic actions was the removal of idols and images from the Kaaba after the conquest. The story goes that upon the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet ordered the removal and destruction of all idols that were kept in the Kaaba (Fachrudin, 2015). Although this was done to prove monotheism and prevent idol worshipping in what was considered a sacred place, it has become a major reference point for militants. For example, Isakhan & Zarandona (2017) reported how an ISIS militant justified the destruction of monuments in Mosul, Iraq, by saying “The Prophet Muhammad shattered the idols with his own honourable hands when he conquered Mecca. The Prophet Muhammad commanded us to shatter and destroy statues. This is what his companions did later on, when they conquered lands”.

To the terrorists, the destruction of statues and killing of custodians of culture is justified on the pretence of preventing idolatry and worshipping of other deities. It is also, in their estimation, a way of purifying Islam and supporting the establishment of a so-called Islamic state. To the terrorists, the management and sustenance of traditional monuments, artefacts, traditional medicine, and other forms of traditions are considered acts of paganism and idol worship. They equally preach against tourism to historical sites on the grounds that they encourage social vices like fornication, adultery, and corruption (Bello, 2020). To the extremists, ancient manuscripts, shrines, and tombs also represent mixing pre-Islamic beliefs with Islam, which is a heresy that must be stopped.

In addition to the above, the Hadith (which contains the sayings of the Prophet) also recorded how the Prophet preached against idols and the keeping of images. In the Hadith, the Prophet was reported to have said: “I have been sent to join ties of relationship (with kindness and affection), to break the idols and to proclaim the oneness of Allah (in a manner that) nothing is to be associated with him” (Sahih Bukhari, Book 04, Number 1812). By and large, these verses and traditions have served as the basis for militants’ onslaught against cultural artefacts.

5 Evidence of Heritage Preservation

Evidence from the preceding section suggests a strong aversion and rejection of any statues, monuments and images because they are regarded as symbolizing idols. However, in the Islamic world, there are monuments, beliefs and practices of cultural values that have been preserved and even become central parts of the Islamic religion. These tend to nullify or modify the provisions of the verses and the tradition quoted above. Some of these include the following:

  1. (i)

    The Preservation of the Kaaba

The Kaaba is the cuboid structure in the heart of Mecca city that Muslim faithful turn to while observing their five daily prayers and circumambulate during pilgrimage. It is regarded as the holiest place to the Muslims, and every believer of the faith is enjoined to visit the place at least once in their lifetime. This is clearly stated in the Quran thus:

God has made the Kaaba, the Sacred House, an asylum of security, Hajj, and ‘Umrah (pilgrimage) for mankind... (Holy Quran, 2021, 5:97).

The Kaaba predated the formal institutionalization of Islam because, according to Khudair (2021), it was built by the Prophet Abraham, but later turned into a house of idols. But upon the formation of Islam, the building was preserved and integrated into the religion. The Kaaba is an iconic heritage.

  1. (ii)

    The Black Stone in the Kaaba

The Black Stone (al-hajar-al-aswaj) is part of the Kaaba building. The people kiss this stone during the annual pilgrimage. After the establishment of Islam as a religion, this stone was preserved and became a place of visit during pilgrimage to the Holy Site. Some pilgrims always struggle to touch it, just like the Prophet and the Khalifs did (Fachrudin, 2015). From all indications, the Black Stone is a preserved heritage with a long historical value from antiquity.

  1. (iii)

    The Preservation of Safa and Marwa

Safa and Marwa are two small, enclosed mountains adjacent to the Kaaba, between which pilgrims travel back and forth seven times during the circumambulating of the Kaaba as part of the pilgrimage rituals. Allah is quoted in the Quran thus:

Behold! Safa and Marwa are among the Symbols of Allah. So, if those who visit the House in the Season or at other times, should compass them round, it is no sin in them. And if anyone obeyeth his own impulse to good, – be sure that Allah is He Who recogniseth and knoweth (Holy Quran, 2021, 2:158).

The Kaaba and Safa and Marwa are pre-Islamic monuments that were preserved for centuries until incorporated into Islam much later (Al-Harbi, 2020).

  1. (iv)

    The Death and Preservation of the Pharaoh’s Body

The death and preservation of the Pharaoh’s body is another example of heritage preservation in Islam as stated in the Quran thus: 10 verses 90–92 as follows:

We brought the tribe of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his troops pursued them out of tyranny and enmity. Then, when he was on the point of drowning, he [Pharaoh] said: "I believe that there is no god but Him in Whom the tribe of Israel believes. I am one of the Muslims”; "What, now! When previously you rebelled and were one of the corrupters? Today we will preserve your body so you can be a Sign for people who come after you. Surely many people are heedless of Our Signs (Holy Quran, 2021, 10:90–92).

According to Maurice Bucaille (2003), the body of the Pharaoh was recovered from the sea in 1908 and kept in an Egyptian museum. According to Hossam Mahdy (2019), the Pharaoh’s preservation and recovery were not only to serve as signs and proof of past civilisations but also to drive home the importance of archaeology as a means of authenticating history, which explains cultural heritage preservation.

  1. (v)

    The Preservation of the Quran (The Islamic Holy Book)

The Quran is regarded as the greatest heritage to the Muslim faithful. According to Afzal Iqbal (1967 p142), the words of the Quran were collected as they were revealed to the Prophet, committed to memory by the early Muslims, recorded in writing by scribes and later ordered to be compiled by the first Caliph, Abu Bakri. The originality of the holy book has been preserved for over a thousand years. The Quran has served as a link between the period before Mohammad and now. That is what heritage preservation is all about.

  1. (vi)

    Preservation of Al-Hijri pre-Islamic Site

In 2008, the al-Hijri archaeological site became listed as a World Heritage site in Saudi Arabia. This follows long years of Saudi Arabia’s preservation of the place. The significance of this is that the site is a pre-Islamic site, which was mentioned in the Quran as quoted below:

Surely the people of al-Hijr45 also rejected the Messengers, calling them liars. We also gave them Our Signs, yet they turned away from them. They used to hew out houses from the mountains46 and lived in security. Then the Blast caught them in the morning and whatever they had been earning proved of no avail (Holy Quran, 2021, 15:80–84).

According to the above reference, al-Hijri site is considered to belong to people who were regarded as enemies of God because they rejected messengers sent to them during their time on earth (Mahdi, 2019). The site is not considered a place of worship in Islam, but it was preserved by Saudi Arabia, the seat of the religion of Islam, which illustrates the compatibility of Islam with heritage preservation.

6 Towards Countering the Narratives of Destruction

The preceding two sections demonstrated the apparent contradiction in the theory and practice of cultural heritage preservation in Islam. Section three presented clear Quranic and Prophetic directives against the making and veneration of statues and monuments. Section four highlighted evidence of the preservation of some monuments and objects as part of Islam. How do we reconcile the contradiction? One way to do this, which is lost to the terrorists, is to adopt Aziz Fachrudin’s argument that a distinction exists between timthal (mere statutes for decoration) and sanam (statutes for worship). Echoing the views of reformists like Muhammad Jadul-Haq (former Grand Sheikh of Al-Azrar Mosque in Egypt) and famous Muslim thinker Muhammed Umara, Fachrudin argues that statues for decoration are allowed, provided they are not worshipped (Fachrudin, 2015). This seems to be the reason why monuments like the Pyramid and the Sphinx were allowed to stand even when Egypt was conquered by the Muslims. The same reason explains the presence of numerous ancient monuments in the Middle East and other Muslim-dominated areas, even long after the entrenchment of Islam in those areas.

These arguments can assist in educating innocent and unsuspecting potential recruits of terrorism in line with SDG 4, which centres on education. The violent attacks on heritage by extremists and terrorists operating under the banner of Islam relies on a poor level of education on Islamic tenets. The indoctrination of people into their fold also relies on ignorance and self-centred beliefs. To counter the violent campaign, there is the need to apply the principles of SDG 4 as a bloodless and effective strategy of discouraging the recruitment of community members into their folds, largely in Muslim countries. Therefore, the instruments needed to counter the narratives of violence by terrorists are the proper education of the community dwellers concerning Islamic principles on cultural heritage preservation and the promotion of the sociocultural inter-relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. Mary Kaldor, in a conference, is reported to have said, “very often, it is the local people destroying cultural heritage, either because of their beliefs, ignorance or for economic reasons” (Elrha, 2016). This major challenge to the preservation of cultural heritage can only be addressed through the purposeful education of the people.

In the same vein, Gharib argues that the built environment is part of Islamic tradition and that its preservation is part of the necessities of Islamic law (Gharib, 2017). Furthermore, in the opinion of Yusuf al-Qaradawi (cited in Gharib, 2001), a deliberate violation of the environment also constitutes a crime against the principles of Islam. Thus, the terrorists’ arguments for violence against the built environment are erected on fraudulent foundations, and the terrorists, according to Mahmud Shahbanaz (2016, p.1), are nothing but “isolated extremists dreaming up their own versions of Islam”. It should be noted that SDG 11 is focused on making cities resilient and sustainable. The heritage sites are important components of the environment. Terrorism has emerged as one of the greatest threats to heritage preservation in many human environments in the contemporary world and particularly in Muslim societies. In line with SDG 11, ensuring the sustainability of cultural heritage is of urgent importance. There appears to be a concerted effort to obliterate the long-cherished heritage from Islamic cities and settlements. This is a threat to history, identity and the economy of these areas. Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum at Islamabad, Pakistan, avers that “Militants are the enemies of culture” (U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, 2009). Nothing could be truer than this statement. The synchronization of SDG 4 and 11 will help to make the environment resilient and sustainable. All efforts that assist in the preservation of the treasure of humanity must be intensified.

7 Conclusion

There is a strong relationship between religion and cultural heritage. The relationship is both symbiotic and adversarial. While religion has assisted in the creation of monuments and artefacts of cultural value, it has also been employed to launch vicious attacks on monuments. Therefore, the current onslaught on cultural heritage by some people laying claim to the Islamic religion represents an instance of religion playing an adversarial role in the cultural heritage discourse. Even though some texts endorse the destruction of statues and monuments, Islamic tradition also shows evidence of the preservation of some of these icons, some of which have been incorporated into the Islamic religion.

This chapter shows that terrorists operating in the Muslim world can be effectively checkmated by amplifying the evidence of heritage preservation in Islam. This will dissuade people from being recruited into the extremist fold because many believe they are joining extreme for religious purposes.