Skyscrapers in Mecca
One would expect that Mecca, the nucleus of a religion that was born in the desert and which is built upon the idea of the individual’s humility in the face of the divine absolute, would always be a symbol of that purity. We could take it for granted that every effort would be made for the ancient, holy city of the Muslim world to maintain the austerity of the religion and the desert, like the Kaaba, the simple black cube which every member of the faithful has a duty to circle seven times at least once in his or her lifetime. Mecca is forbidden to all but Muslims. Dispatches that reach the rest of us usually concern the hajj, or pilgrimage, each December, during which some 4 million visitors descend upon the city, dressed only in simple, white, shroud-like cloths. The establishment of Saudi Arabia, the only country to bear the name of its ruling family, is deeply conservative. It provides funding for many organizations whose aim is the expansion of the Muslim world. The most radical such organization is al-Qaida, run by Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden (who today is at war with the country’s regime). He repeatedly proclaimed that his aim was to get American forces to leave Saudi Arabia, something they did some years back. For all these reasons, a report on Mecca by Hassan M. Fattah of The New York Times in The International Herald Tribune on Thursday was a great surprise. According to Fattah, the city is experiencing a construction boom, with a projected total cost of about $13 billion. Recently, one of the biggest shopping centers in the country opened near Mecca’s Grand Mosque. Visitors can now also enjoy fast food, drink their coffee at Starbucks and shop at Cartier, H&M and other Western icons. Where once no building was taller than the Grand Mosque, now some 130 skyscrapers are being built – one of which will be the seventh-tallest in the world. Nearby, a mountain is being razed to make way for a hotel. Today, a rich Muslim can buy a three-bedroom apartment overlooking the Grand Mosque for $5 million. The report even quoted one critic saying that the house in which the prophet Mohammed was born was torn down to make way for a bathroom. (Strangely, this claim is made in the report that appears in the IHT, whereas on the NYT website, the same critic, Dr Irfan Ahmed, whose Islamic Heritage Foundation in London aims to preserve the Islamic history of Mecca and other important religious sites in Saudi Arabia, says the site of the house where Mohammed lived is now occupied by a «dilapidated library.») What is happening to make Mecca move so far away from its roots? One thing that is certainly evident is that there is a tidal wave of cash flowing into the region because of the high price of oil and, this time, the Arabs are not spending their petrodollars in the West but are investing much closer to home. Another important aspect of what is happening in Mecca may be related to a «holy alliance» between extremist Muslims and construction companies: Apparently, the former press the government to agree to the destruction of historic sites, lest the sites themselves become objects of worship, while the contractors rush in to build and repay the favors in some way, perhaps funding the religious groups. Here it is worth noting that the company that manages Mecca and other religious sites, and is responsible for such construction projects, is the Saudi bin Laden Company – Osama’s brothers, in other words. But perhaps the reason for the rampant consumerism in Mecca is much simpler. It is obvious that the Muslim world is riding a powerful wave. At another level, the war that Osama bin Laden declared on the West may not have been adopted by all Muslims but it also has not been roundly condemned. The United States’ disaster in Iraq and the problems other Western governments (such as Britain) face over the issue fuel a sense of anger as well as empowerment among Muslims. Everything suggests that the West is on the defensive. At the same time, though, this new self-confidence can lead to arrogance and the imitation of Western ways. In the case of Mecca, it may lead to ostentatiousness and hubris. This will lead, at some time, to calls for a reformation. In the face of these burgeoning vanities, and beyond the scale of current sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, it seems very likely that the next great battle that the Muslim world will face will be within the towering walls of its citadels.
