ISIS and the Prophet Jonah
The recent news from Iraq is rather depressing. A group of radical Muslims who follow the Salafist form of Islam have taken over large swathes of the north of the country as well as substantial parts of Syria and appear to be aiming at the total conquest of the former Ottoman empire. A map, whose authenticity cannot be proven but which I think is likely to be genuine, shows them claiming not only the whole Middle East and north Africa, but the Balkans, Greece, Hungary, and other nations in that area, and Spain and Portugal as well.
These, however, are moderate demands compared with some of the extremists who had rushed to join the fighters of ISIS, for they aim at nothing less than total world conquest. Quite apart from the inconvenience of every woman on earth having to wear a burqa and every man grow a long beard and wear a dress, the world would be plunged into a Dark Age compared to which anything preceding pales into insignificance.
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| Thousands of old arabic manuscripts from Timbuktu were destroyed when Muslim fanatics allied to al-Qaida set fire to libraries in Timbuktu. |
Well-intentioned liberally-minded scholars have tended to pooh-pooh the story that the Muslim Arabs burned the great library of Alexandria. The tale goes that when the Muslims conquered Alexandria one of them went to their commander, Amir al-Aasi, and asked what they should do with all these books. He replied, "If what is in them is contrary to the Qur'an, they are blasphemous. If it is not, they are superfluous. In any case burn them." Which they did and the baths of Alexandria were stoked with the learning of the ages for several weeks.
Scholars point out that the great library of Alexandria had already suffered considerably at the hands of rioters and civil wars - which is undoubtedly true - and tend to pin the blame on ignorant monks and the dreaded "Christians". Unfortunately, the tale is given credence by the behaviour of these Salafists who, when they captured Timbuktu recently, promptly set about destroying the centuries old Muslim libraries of that city.
A cynic like me is somewhat amused at these earnest fanatics insisting that every male must grow a luxuriant beard in order to be like the prophet Mohammed. Various other characteristics - real or imagined - of that venerable gentleman are also insisted upon. Western technology in all its forms is rejected and abhorrance - with one exception: guns, bombs and cars. If these people were to be consistent, they would insist on fighting all their battles on camel-back and with swords, for that is how the prophet Mohammed fought his battles. Even the self-styled caliph, leader of the ISIS fanatics, was spotted wearing what appeared to be a Rolex in his first video appearance - and I'll bet big money that the prophet Mohammed didn't even own a watch!
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| The ambitious Palm Island resort in Dubai depends on tourism and cheap flights. |
The Salafists belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, which means two things. The first is that, covertly or otherwise, they are being supported by the great wealth of the Saudi Arabians. This nuisance seems likely to continue so long as the oil revenues keep pouring into Saudi coffers. The surest way to defeat this terrorism is for us all to buy electric cars and solar panels, for once the oil money stops flowing, Saudi Arabia will quickly descend into the abysmal poverty and ignorance that reigned before oil was discovered.
A few of the oil states are trying to diversify against the day the oil runs out. One thinks of the infamous Palm Islands of Dubai or the giant shopping malls with ski slopes and amusement parks under a huge air-conditioned roof. What is not clear to me is where all the tourists these things are supposed to attract will come from when the oil runs out and all the jets stop flying!
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| An explosion destroys the Shia al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque in Mosul. |
The second is that both branches of Islam regard each other with a loathing compared to which the mutual abhorrance of Catholic and Protestant in Ireland is a positive love feast! Thousands of gullible young Muslims have been stirred up by rhetoric against the evil Americans and British who are murdering Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, whereupon they flock to join al-Qaida and set about killing more Muslims than the West has ever done.
Their excuse is that their enemies, the Shia, aren't really Muslims at all. Needless to say, the Shia reciprocate and part of the crisis in Iraq has been triggered by the fact that the Shiite government has set about systematically discriminating against or even persecuting the Sunni minority. Those thus disadvantaged have turned to ISIS for deliverance - though they are likely to find the cure worse than the disease in the long run.
If you have read this far you will doubtless be wondering what this all has to do with archaeology.
First of all, this website is devoted to Middle Eastern archaeology, so anything which happens in the Middle East is of relevance. Muslims have not always been the friends of archaeology. Go to Google Earth and type 32 11 25.50N 48 14 48.80E into the search box at the top of the screen, which will take you to the very impressive castle built by the French archaeologists who excavated ancient Susa, capital of Elam. They did not go to all that trouble just because they wanted somewhere ostentatious to live; they needed protection against the Baktiari and other tribes of the area who knew nothing of archaeology and history and merely saw the foreigners as targets for robbery and murder.
American archaeologist Wendell Phillips led an expedition into the Yemen in the 1950s in search of the Queen of Sheba and was lucky to escape with his life when the wild tribesmen of the area took a predatory interest in his work. His popular account of his adventures, which I have read, left one almost weeping with frustration at the archaeological riches he was forced to abandon - a huge dam, the remains of sophisticated palaces and temples, a wealth of inscriptions in an unknown script.
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| The shrine of Nabi Yunis as it appeared in 1967, when it was still little more than the original cathedral of Nineveh. |
Even Austin Henry Layard, the Eighteenth Century discoverer of Nineveh, suffered from Muslim ignorance, for when his workmen discovered the first human-headed bull, the result was wide-spread alarm. The rumour rapidly spread that the foreigner had uncovered Nimrod himself and the Mosul ulemma met in urgent session to try and settle the question of whether Nimrod was a True Believer - in which case it was intolerable that the foreigner should disturb his remains - or not, in which case it was equally intolerable that any remains or monument should be allowed to exist.
After visiting the site, Layard was able to assure the great men that whatever the religious status of Nimrod, the discovery had nothing to do with him, and the work was allowed to continue. Which, in a way, was unfortunate, because Layard - and the Frenchman Botta - was nothing more than a treasure hunter. Tourists marvel at the human-headed bulls and the fabulous reliefs of the siege of Lachish in the British Museum, but archaeologists weep at the thought of the knowledge that Layard and his workmen destroyed in digging those things out of the earth.
What might we not have been able to discover if modern techniques of stratification, pottery classification, pollen analysis, carbon-dating and all the rest of it had been available then! The destroyed palaces of Sargon, Sennacherib and other mighty kings must have been littered with half-burned furniture and clothing which a careful excavation might have identified and preserved, but which was discarded by Layard as so much rubbish.
Which is why archaeologists have for so long looked with longing at the only unexcavated royal palace left in Nineveh. The mound of Nabi Yunis - the Prophet Jonah - is believed to contain the palaces of Sargon II, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, but it has been completely out of bounds for archaeological work because of the supposed sanctity of the site.
Ironically, the alleged tomb of the prophet Jonah was at first a Christian site and the original building served as the cathedral of Nineveh. After the Arab conquest it was taken over by the Muslims. When we first visited Nineveh the shrine was a fairly small building on the top of the tel, but under Saddam Hussein the shrine was elaborated with huge concrete approaches and a massive mosque, all of which made it even more unlikely that archaeologists would ever be allowed to set spade to soil anywhere in the vicinity.
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| The shrine of Nabi Yunis as it appeared in 2012 after it was enlarged under Saddam Hussein. |
As well as killing their fellow Muslims, the Salafists have an ideological hatred for shrines, regarding them as a form of idolatry. In the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi authorities have cheerfully buldozed houses from the time of Mohammed to build high-rise hotels, so it is little surprise that the terrorists they have inspired have been equally cavalier about holy places and shrines belonging to the non-Salafi Shia. Considerable outrage has been provoked in the Shiite world by video posted on YouTube (as patronised by the prophet Mohammed, of course) showing the destruction of Shiite shrines and holy places by the fanatics of ISIS.
Which brings me to the real point of this article: if ISIS does indeed take over Iraq, is it likely that they will respect the shrine of Nabi Yunis? I suspect not.
History shows that fanaticism comes in waves and we can look forward to a time, perhaps a hundred years in the future, when the lunacy of the present is replaced by a more civilised - or, more likely, a more lackadaisical - government. Is it possible that then, at last, modern archaeology might be let loose on the treasures hidden beneath the mound of Nabi Yunis?
Note: As a postscript to the above I would like to point out that the majority of Muslims are moderate, peaceful, law-abiding people who want nothing more than to live and let live. Whether that is because of or despite their religion is uncertain; I have come across instances of both.
the dreaded "Christians I am not sure who these destructive Christians are supposed to be. It is certainly true that there were ignorant monks and bigotted churchmen, but on the whole their ire was directed towards contemporary heresies. Ancient authors may have been neglected, but there was no general movement to eradicate them. Return
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| A Muslim fanatic takes a hammer to one of the cenotaphs in the so-called "Tomb of Jonah". |
Nabi Yunis In fact, shortly after writing this article, I came across more video posted by ISIS showing a black-clad idiot hammering away in the shrine with a sledgehammer. The fellow probably thinks that he is earning merit with Allah by striking a few blows against these "idols" and will then give way to some other nutter eager to carry on the good work.
Like many Muslim shrines, it would appear that the tomb of Jonah is surrounded by the smaller cenotaphs of other notable personages thought worthy of burial near the prophet's grave. Among these lesser shrines is the tomb of Seth, believed to be the son of Noah. I need hardly point out that no rational person believes that Jonah (or Seth) is buried in this location, but the shrines still have historical interest and we must mourn their wanton destruction.
Regrettably, Muslims are not alone in such religiously-inspired vandalism. Jews have similarly attacked and defiled non-Jewish shrines, including the Holy Cross monastery in Jerusalem and the tomb of Aaron in Jordan.
There were similar scenes six hundred years ago when Protestant idiots destroyed beautiful carvings and paintings across Europe in the name of religion. I condemn them utterly, but I would point out that in the six centuries since Christians have learned tolerance. Jews and Muslims appear to be six centuries behind the times, unfortunately. Return
© Kendall K. Down 2014
