"The Sphinx and Pyramids Must be Destroyed"

by Khaled Abu Toameh
November 13, 2012 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3449/destroy-sphinx-pyramids

If the Egyptian army was unable to prevent the killing of 16 border guards by Muslim terrorists in its own base in the Sinai Peninsula, how is it expected to protect the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx?

Egypt's Muslim fundamentalists are now calling for the destruction of the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza under the pretext that Islam prohibits idols.

If the extremists have no respect for human life, why should they care about a pyramid or a statue?

Murjan Salem al-Johari, one of Egyptian leaders of the Saudi-inspired Wahhabis, otherwise referred to as the "Salafis," said that it was the duty of all Muslims to destroy the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx just as the Taliban destroyed two ancient statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan in 2001.

"All statues in Egypt must be destroyed," al-Johrai declared in a TV interview. "Muslims must implement the rules of Sharia and we will destroy the statues of Sphinx and the Pyramids because they are idols."

The call for destroying the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx came after Muslim extremists destroyed, earlier this year, priceless Buddhist statues in the Maldives.

In 2001, the Taliban destroyed irreplaceable historic artifacts in Afghanistan after its leader issued a fatwa [religious decree] against all "idolatrous images" of humans and animals.

The call for destroying the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza is yet another sign of the growing influence of the "Salafis" and other radical Islamic groups in Egypt in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring."

There is not much that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi, can do to stop these extremists from achieving their goal.

Instead of directing his protests against the Muslim terrorists who are intimidating Egyptian Christians and threatening to blow up the Pyramids and the great Sphinx, Morsi is busy trying to stop Israel from defending itself against the rockets and missiles launched from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other terror groups.

Morsi has thus far failed to liberate Sinai from the control of the extremists, who have turned the peninsula into a terror entity. If the Egyptian army was unable to prevent the killing of 16 border guards by Muslim terrorists in its own base in the Sinai, how is it expected to protect the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx?

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Related Topics: Egypt

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Comment on this item

10 Reader Comments

Tamzin • Aug 20, 2013 at 06:41

I do not believe that it is in Morsi's interests in going up against any Islamic fundamentalists. He has been part of an organization that assassinated Anwar Sadat and an organization that has a history of resolving problems with bloodshed. Should one truly support the ballot box election of people who have no real respect for democratic values? Is democracy simply about who wins the election or is it about supporting minority rights and the rights of those who did not vote for one and for a system of justice for all - and also about a healthy respect for the national treasures, even those that pre-date Islam?

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Sean McCullough • Jun 26, 2013 at 21:55

In what city is the Great Sphinx in Egypt?

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Kafur • Jan 5, 2013 at 09:51

These people have a demonic power motivating them. They certainly do not represent a loving God. They are just instruments, and liable to do anything...

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Callmelennie • Nov 14, 2012 at 14:20

Islam has been in control of the Egyptian antiquities since 640, and in all that time these artifacts haven't been harmed; even though there have been more than a few fanatical caliphs and sultans in charge. There's gotta be a reason for that. In Islam, the pyramids and antiquities of Egypt represent history's ultimate expression of self idolatry. The Quran has many passages dealing with the Muslim prophet Musa confronting Pharaoh and warning him to cease with these projects of self idolatry or face ruin. And the Muslim conquest is the final chapter of this prophecy. So, in a sense, it's very important that these antiquities remain standing as a monument to the triumph of Islam.

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Callmelennie • Mar 11, 2014 at 00:28

For your information, the monuments were there before Islam; it was approximately 3000 years after their construction that Islam even 'took' them. Isn't this a testament to the greatness of the Egyptian civilisation that built it?

The reason we need to preserve these monuments is not to show the 'triumph' of Islam, but rather to show and preserve the achievements of mankind. That is the most important reason; if you would like it to showcase the 'triumph' of Islam, it also shows the 'triumph' of the polytheistic, idolatrous Egyptian civilisation (which Allah should have destroyed) that could build such a great structure that has lasted longer than Islam itself.

If you are going to say that I am a symbol of human arrogance, let's put it this way: I see everyone as equal and respect/admire their cultural achievements, not as symbols of anyone's greatness, but the ingenuity of the human race. If you can't understand that and insist that it is a testament to your religion's superiority... too bad.

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Kaz • Nov 14, 2012 at 10:22

Please, Islamic leaders. Please destroy the pyramids. Do so, and even our liberals might start to fathom the evil in Islam. What the brutal genocide of entire civilizations and the invasion of the few remaining free countries has failed to accomplish, destroying the gravestones of the pharaohs might do. Go for it.

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Batya Casper, Israelathebook.com • Nov 13, 2012 at 09:11

Thank you, Mr. Toameh, for your reporting. The threat of the Middle East - at least its extreme factions - to Western values grows ever more pervasive. It is the pull of the Dark Ages over enlightenment.

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Pat English • Nov 13, 2012 at 08:27

One good thing that will come out of this ridiculous behavior of the Muslims is that Westerners will not longer spend their tourist dollars in Egypt.

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Dave • Nov 13, 2012 at 05:59

If this becomes the norm in the greater Middle East, how long before it encroaches on other areas of the globe inhabited by the sorts of Islamists who would willingly follow this example? Take Indonesia for instance: the thought of a nonsecular Salafi group gaining power over the military and general population of such a populous Muslim state is worrying in the extreme. And I don't think they would stop at religious icons or structures - they would expand this fatwa to people.

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F. Lindsay • Nov 13, 2012 at 05:49

The pyramids and the Great Sphinx are part of the world's heritage. If we ascribe to the Out of Africa theory, the two ancient icons have been part of the human history stretching across Egyptian landscapes since the beginning of recorded history. Archeologists have questioned the exact age of the the monuments, so we cannot be sure when they were created or by whom they were created. These hardliner Muslim brothers have little respect for anything outside of Islam. Can the useless UN stop the insanity? I would like two see the brothers try to dismantle the great pyramids. Even now engineers don't have the equipment to dismantle such enormous stone blocks. Hopefully this futile task will keep them from stoning women and assassinating children. God, please help us.

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