Hostages of Ka’ba
This is a serious issue. And I think every Muslim should know about this incident. And to know clearly about this incident, my article is not enough. Because I am not an expert in journalism or any kind of politics or Islamic rulings, I am not an expert on fanaticism. I also haven’t studied enough regarding the topic. I just felt the urge to share the news or the incident I came to know of recently.
I was scrolling through my Facebook homepage when suddenly my eyes were glued to a post given by Dr. Yasir Qadhi. I was interested, and I started to read it. I just couldn’t believe what I had just read.
It is too strange to be true. But saddeningly, it is. I can’t change the past. Well, let’s talk about it a little bit. because I know little about it.
On November 20, 1979, a man named Juhayman al-Otaybi, along with his brother-in-law Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani, led a siege in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This man and his followers entered the Grand Mosque with heavy arms around the time of Fazr Prayer and interrupted the Imam, Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil. For the prayer, approximately 50 thousand worshippers gathered.There were around 500 followers of Juhayman implementing the plan. They locked the sanctuary and took hostages. They released most of the hostages, but not all of them. Juhayman and his people thought they were doing it for a greater cause. And eventually, their actions will bring peace and prosperity. This shows how naive they were. They didn’t think properly about the consequences of their actions. You can’t convince or invite people toward Islam in such a way. Even Islam does not support this kind of fanatic behaviour. This brings out no good.
They brought arms in coffins to avoid suspicion. Then they took hostages and killed some people who defied them. And this horrible incident continued for two weeks. They wanted to end the dynasty of Al Saud. And they only brought out their own demise. For their actions, a lot of Muslims suffered and are still suffering.
Juhayman was in the Saudi National Guard and a former corporal. He was also a preacher. And everyone knew him as a “good” person. Nobody could think he could do things like this. And I wonder that nobody questioned him about what he was doing. There were 500 people who joined in the act. Nobody resisted?
That’s what fanaticism does to you. You stop thinking clearly. How can a person think that if we take control of the Ka’ba, the reign of Al Saud will fall and there will be world peace? Everyone in the world will become Muslim automatically by watching our bravery. Seriously?
They also had their own interpretation of the Hadith.He claimed that his brother-in-law was Imam Mahdi. So, if anyone went after them, Allah would take care of them by demolishing them. But Allah’s miraculous help didn’t come. What a surprise!
Simply, the hadith was not about them, no matter how they interpreted it.
The Saudi government was shaken. They never imagined this type of incident could take place. And any act of violence is forbidden in the Grand Mosque. However, they took the necessary actions with the approval of the ulama. It was a tough time for the ulama too. because they knew Juhayman was a good person and he had good intentions. But the action he has taken is totally the opposite. You can’t justify doing wrong for a good purpose. Juhayman was against the music that was spreading in Saudi Arabia. He couldn’t tolerate women being displayed on TV. He wanted to stop the cultural aggression of Westernization. But the path he chose was even worse. Killing people or harming innocent people is much worse than listening to music.
Whatever this “good guy” did, it changed the lives of Muslims forever. After the incident, the world started to look at Muslims from different angles. Well, if you attack your own holy shrine, how can you justify your act? The blame game is not going to work. You just cannot blame everything on non-Muslims. Everyone has to pay for their own actions.
After all of the tragic happenings, the Saudi Govt. was able to defeat them. And they were beheaded publicly.
Now the question is, did Juhayman properly think about the consequences? His concept appears to be heavily reliant on fantasies or divine intervention. You can’t just take the people of Ka’ba hostage and expect a smooth outcome.
I’ll give the links ; you can find the details of the incident. You can also Google it. As a Muslim, we all should know about the incident and learn lessons from it.
The most dangerous portion of the incident is that even the closest people to Juhayman couldn’t predict he would do such a thing. He did it very quietly and secretly. And, creating a cult of 500 people secretly is not an easy task. I sometimes wonder how he managed it. And why didn’t anybody question his intention?
So, we need to be very careful even on this day. We should think ten times before getting influenced by others. No matter if the person is a scholar, an Imam, or anyone else, we need to think for ourselves. And whenever suspicion arrives, we need to cross-check the intentions of both ourselves and others.
May Allah guide us in the right path and save us from fanaticism.
