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 Shock and disbelief was the initial response last Wednesday as pilgrims to the Jannat al-Baqi cemetery were faced with a barrier cordoning off the graves of the four Shia Imams buried there. According to a report by the Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA), the graves of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba, Imam Zainul Abideen, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, and Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (peace be upon them) in the al-Baqi cemetery have been barricaded, preventing individual from even casting their glance on the holy sites. Security personnel present at the site informed the pilgrims that the barriers will be permanent.
This is the latest act of oppression in the cruel reign of terror initiated against the holy sites of Islam by the al-Saud dynasty. In 1925, the shrines for the four Imams and countless other companions and members of the Prophet's household in the Jannat al-Baqi and Jannat al-Mualla cemeteries were demolished by the government. Since then, the Saudi government has continued to destroy numerous other relics of Islamic history in the name of preventing "polytheism". Pilgrims who attempt to pay their respects to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny), his family members, or his companions are often met with unrestrained and unchecked physical violence at the hands of the infamous religious police. Only a few weeks ago, several dozen Shia pilgrims from the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia were physically attacked by the religious police. The very country that Muslims look towards to face the House of Allah five times a day has become breeding grounds for hatred towards the Prophet of Allah and his Household. As the oppression continues with barriers and religious police being stationed at every corner of the al-Baqi graveyard to prevent pilgrims from going near the holy graves, the Shia pilgrims were not suppressed. Through simply the visual visitation, the pilgrims still gathered in the hundreds to pay their respects. Grand Ayatollah Safi Gulpaygani has issued a statement calling the Saudi government's construction of the barrier a betrayal to the history of Islam. "Such moves would lead to full annihilation of the historic monuments of the Islamic history, and the future generations would thus be left with no heritage as reference," he said, according to a report by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). "Committing such moves is anti-cultural, since how can we claim ten thousand years from now that we had once had registered records of our Islamic civilization? Unfortunately, the Saudi government at our time resorts to annihilation of any sign that is left from the Prophethood era." IRNA reports that following a meeting with Ayatollah Gulpaygani, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has said that the Islamic Republic will pursue the matter with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Images Provided by Mehr News Agency:
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