Al-Baqi cemetery, the oldest and one of the two most important Islamic graveyards located in Medina, in current-day Saudi Arabia, was demolished in 1806 and, following reconstruction in the mid-19th century, was destroyed again in 1925:55 or 1926. An alliance of the House of Saud and the followers of the Wahhabi movement known as the Emirate of Diriyah carried out the first demolition. The Sultanate of Nejd, also ruled by the House of Saud and followers of Wahhabism, carried out the second. In both cases, the actors were motivated by the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, which prohibits the building of monuments on graves.
Al-Baqi Cemetery (Arabic: مَـقْـبَـرَة ٱلْبَقِيْع, romanized: Maqbara al-Baqī) is an Islamic cemetery in Medina, Hejaz, located to the southeast of the Prophet's Mosque. It was the first Medinian Islamic cemetery, containing graves of many of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's family and companions.The grounds hold much significance for Muslims, being the resting place of many of Muhammad's relatives and companions, thus marking it as one of the two holiest cemeteries in Islamic tradition, along with the al-Mualla cemetery in Mecca. Many narrations relate Muhammad issuing a prayer every time he passed it.
1926Apr, 21
Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi'a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
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