Arabs across the Middle East reacted furiously after militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) destroyed a priceless collection of statues and sculptures dating back hundreds of years in a museum in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, and then posted a video of the destruction online.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
A man shown in the video said they 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.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi appealed for international support to battle what he called the “terrorist barbarians”:
We will chase them with the world on our side. This is a serious call to the Security Council and the United Nations and all peace-loving states to chase them all. Damn them and their hands for what they are doing.
The Dar al-Ifta, the religious Egyptian body which rules on Islamic law, condemned the ISIS destruction of Iraqi artifacts, claiming that Mohammed and his followers “had never demolished ancient heritage.” The respected Islamic body said the video of jihadists destroying statues in the Mosul museum showed their ignorance.
Such antiquities are to be found in all of the countries conquered by Muslims, but the prophet’s companions did not order their destruction or even authorise anything approaching it. Some of the prophet’s companions even came to Egypt… and discovered the Pyramids, the Sphinx and other remains but they did not issue fatwas [religious edicts] against these antiquities, which have immense historical value.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi also condemned the destruction of the historical treasures by ISIS, calling the action an “’odious crime’ against cultural heritage,” Al-Arabiya reported.
ISIS promotes a purist school of Sunni Islam, deeming any other Muslims to be heretics and destroying places of worship venerated for centuries by Shiites and Sufis, as well as attacking and destroying Christian churches and other religious shrines in areas it controls.
[Photo: CCTV News / YouTube ]