Religious teaching that drives Isis to threaten the ancient ruins of Palmyra (Hassan Hassan)

Religious teaching that drives Isis to threaten the ancient ruins of Palmyra

By Hassan Hassan

May 24, 2015

Most historical sites under Islamic State control in Iraq and Syria remain intact. Palymyra might be different precisely because of western warnings

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/24/palmyra-syria-isis-destruction-of-treasures-feared

Amid the horrors that Islamic State has unleashed across the Middle East, many observers are holding their breath as they contemplate the fate of one of the world’s most cherished cultural sites.

The clock is ticking for the Roman world heritage site at Palmyra, in central Syria. After Isis obliterated the historical Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq last month, many fear a similar fate awaits the ruins after the group seized Palmyra from the Assad regime.

The city was once a Silk Road hub and one of the cultural centres of the ancient world. It has mythological status in Syria and is home to some of the most beautiful and well-preserved ruins of antiquity, including the Temple of Bel, built in the first century.

The Observer’s architecture critic, Rowan Moore, says the ancient Roman site is “exceeded by very few others: those in Rome itself, Pompeii, possibly Petra in Jordan. Its temples, colonnades and tombs, its theatre and streets are extensive, exquisite, distinctive, rich. The loss of Palmyra would be a cultural atrocity greater than the destruction of the buddhas in Bamiyan.”

So what is the logic behind such destruction? And how likely is it to occur? Warnings about the fate of Palmyra might do more harm than good. Most of the historical sites in Isis territory in Iraq and Syria remain intact. In March, the group even released a photo essay of historical sites in Raqqa, Syria.

The ruins at Palmyra would not normally qualify for destruction by Isis, but the attention drawn to the site might tempt the group to destroy them as a way to inflict psychological pain.

For Isis, only artefacts that involve a deity or worship must be destroyed. This also applies to shrines of saints because, according to the group’s cleric, they compromise absolute devotion to God. Such issues fall under so-called shirkiyat (polytheistic practices), a Salafi concept to justify crackdowns mostly on Sufi and Shia practices. Under this concept, clerics have the discretion to punish worshippers or destroy icons if they deem them to directly or indirectly compromise an exclusive belief in God.

Primarily, Isis uses a hadith (teaching) in which the prophet Muhammad orders one of his companions to “not leave any idol without defacing it and any grave without levelling it”. In 2010, Salafi cleric Mohamed Hassan stirred a debate in Egypt after he issued a fatwa saying that individuals could sell artefacts found in their areas but should destroy them if they were statues. Isis clerics also cite a story in which Muhammad approved the destruction by Jabir Abdullah al-Bajali of a house in Yemen that fulfilled a similar function to the sacred Kaaba mosque in Mecca.

Mainstream Muslim clerics, however, argue that Islam forbade actively worshipped deities, not ancient artefacts. They cite countless examples of early Muslim conquerors sparing historical sites, including ones clearly mentioned in the Qur’an, such as those of the pharaohs in Egypt.

Isis, on the other hand, considers itself a puritanical movement, addressing phenomena that did not necessarily exist in early Islam. But as a general rule it spares historical sites that do not depict deities. It allows people in its territory to excavate the sites, but bans the use of bulldozers and heavy machinery for the purpose.

According to Isis clerics, people have the right to sell gold, utensils and antiquities, but these should not be taken from public facilities such as museums. Based on existing precedents, Palmyra’s heritage site should not be wrecked. But the site does contain artefacts that might be destroyed individually. Syrian activists report that the regime had already relocated many of the city’s treasures before its forces withdrew.

But that cannot be stated with confidence, because Isis might have other motives to destroy the city. The group often seizes any opportunity to expose the hypocrisy and double standards of its opponents.

For many Syrians, the biggest event in Palmyra was last week’s capture of Tadmur prison, one of the Assad regime’s most notorious jails. The disproportionate attention ancient ruins have received, compared with human tragedies, has disturbed many. If Isis blows up the site, it would be largely because of this deemed hypocrisy.

Hassan Hassan is a Middle East analyst and co-author of Isis: Inside the Army of Terror, a New York Times bestseller