To,
Hon’ble General Secretary
United Nation
Subject: Protest against demolition of Jannatul Baqi Cemetery by Saudi regime & demand to rebuild it.
Dear Hon’bl General Secretary,
I hope this letter finds you well,
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 1923. An alliance of the House of Saud, and the followers of the Wahhabi movement, carried out the demolition.
DAG Foundation has initiated an online petition to the Honourable dignitaries of the United Nations for the immediate re-construction of the Holy Shrines via www.change.org (Link-http://chng.it/ppvwH476)
Within 72 hours, Hundreds of people, from 25 different countries, including India, USA, UK, Australia, Sweden Tanzania etc have signed this petition. It is worth mentioning that not only people following Islam have signed, but more than 10% who signed are followers of Christianity, Hinduism and other religions. Many other organizations and NGOs in India and abroad had also supported and signed this petition.
This petition is basically in support of the oppressed and to save the World Heritage sites of prime importance to Muslims across the World. These cemeteries in Saudi Arabia were having mausoleums of important personalities of Islam and Saudi government demolished them despite worldwide protest.
Jannatul Baqi is considered sacred by a large section of the Muslim community as it is believed that Prophet Mohammad’s daughter along with her four sons & Shia Imams, Hasan ibn Ali(as), Ali ibn Husayn(as), Muhammad al-Baqir(as), and Jafar al-Sadiq(as) were also buried there. Since the destruction, all over the world, Muslims have been carrying out protest marches and processions urging the ruling Saud Dynasty of Saudi Arabia to allow reconstruction of this holy place but all such requests have never been paid heed to by this extremist dynasty.
Muslims have staged protests across the World every year and have been asking Saudi Government to rebuild them.
We urge UN to safeguard our rights by pressing the Saudi government to reconstruct the holy shrines and repair the graves of sacred personalities of Islam who were laid to rest in Jannat ul Baqi or allow us to donate cash for the reconstruction work. We believe the UN will relay our message to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Sincerely Syed Saif Abbas Naqvi – General Secretary
