Bamyan Buddhas and the Taliban

Posted by Hamza | Posted in History, Politics | Posted on 28-06-2007

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This picture was taken on 10 March 2006, it was the commemoration ceremony of the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas by the Taliban in March 2001. When i saw this image i could not help bit get a little angry. 110775927 042b05bbc5 Bamyan Buddhas and the Taliban

There was so much ‘hoo haa’ about the rightful destruction of those idols at the time…and then i read 5 years later people are still weeping over it…including Muslims!

When will people learn?!

The Taliban were simply acting upn the greatest sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and all the other Prophets (as) . The Prophets were all sent to move people away from stone worshiping and idol worshiping to worship ONE God. This mission of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was to restore Tawheed.

Allah (SWT) says:

(Surah10:18) They worship beside GOD idols that possess no power to harm them or benefit them, and they say, “These are our intercessors at GOD!” Say, “Are you informing GOD of something He does not know in the heavens or the earth?” Be He glorified. He is the Most High; far above needing partners. 110831356 f009531b95 Bamyan Buddhas and the Taliban

There simply no place in this dunya for idols; let us look at the examples of our Prophets (as)

Prophet Ibrahim (as) destroyed the statues created by his father. (Surah 21: 51-60)

Prophet Musa’s (as response to the idol his people made of a golden calf (Surah 20:83-98)

The very first act of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) did upon entering Makkah, was when he went to the Kaaba, he destroyed the idols inside.

Sahih Muslim, Book 3, 68: Narrated Abdullah bin Masud. The Prophet entered Mecca and (at that time) there were three hundred and sixty idols around the Ka’ba. He started stabbing the idols with a stick he had in his hand and reciting: “Truth (Islam) has come and Falsehood (disbelief) has vanished.”

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) didn’t care about public opinion; he didn’t think that this was bad Dawah to destroy the idols. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) had a mission, his mission was to destroy idols in all there forms from the dunya so people could be free to worship Allah (SWT) as He should be worshipped.

I have heard many Alims and speakers say that the destruction of the Idols in Afghanistan was wrong, bad Dawah and that it should never had happened. They should ask themselves, who are you trying to please? Who, the non believers or Allah (SWT) ? Because if you look at the lives of the Prophets (as) you will see a pattern of idol rejection and destruction – they were firm in their conviction that this was the right thing to so and they did not blink for one moment.

Allah (SWT) says:

“Whoever seeks glory and power (‘Ezzah),- to Allah (SWT) belongs all Glory and Power.”. (35:10)

Also, Khalifa Umar bin al-Khattab said in regards to seeking honour and respect in people other than Allah (SWT)

“…Have you forgotten that we were a low people and it was Islam that made us honourable? If we seek honour from anything other than Islam, Allah (SWT) will return us back again to that state of lowliness.”

The Taliban were well within their rights to destroy these idols, besides, there are far more pressing matters to be concerned with in Afghanistan, wouldn’t you agree!

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madhukar

You guys are offended by a half deface statue???
Does not matter

Altough the Afghan government has the right to destroy the statues. But respect for other religions also comes into consideration.

It was a political blunder by the then government. Do they not know that many Sahabas even visited this land. If they did not destroy then who were they.

Even Saudia called upon them to stop the destruction. For the sake of Muslim unity, atleast listen to the custodians of Kaaba. The whole world was calling onto them to stop it but no plea touched them.

We cannot compare to, idol breaking of the Prophet(MPBUH) to this incident. That was the Kaaba the most sacred place for the Muslims.

Allah (swt) knows best.
susu

death to israel i hope all of them die look at what they did to gazas kids
AN

Hello.
I do agree with you that we have to worship ONE GOD.
You call Him in your language.
I call Him in my language.
You look for Him in your heart.
I look for Him in my heart.
Hearts have no colors.
Deep in hearts there is no hate just love and ONESS.
Please -
if you make blogs...
contribute to GOD who is LOVE and ONESS.
And not to the one who divides and who is hate.
Peace with you,
AN
Jason

Dont you see? The fact that because you view it as an affront, while others do not, and you then destroy them shows an intolerance for their religion. These are not only religious but historical monuments. These monuments are important to Buddhists as it is part of their history. That shows great disrespect.

How would you feel if, over time, Christians immigrated to Mecca and Muslims left and then Christians decided to tear everything down cause Muslims no longer lived there?

Hi Jason, thanks for the comment. Whilst i agree with your sentiment, in that intolerance of other faiths is wrong, i still agree with the right of the Government (at the time) to do what they did in destroying those statues in their own country. I do not know if you are a religious man or not, Jason, but Prophet Abraham (as) is the spiritual and literal father of all the three main monolithic religions of the world, namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. I said in my post that he destroyed all but one of the idols that surrounded him at the time because of the 'affront' to the Oneness of God and His religion. It is also true that Prophet Moses (as) and Prophet Muhammad did the same thing. Now, These actions by the best of mankind (the Prophets being the best and most noble of Mankind) tell us that idolatry is a massive and unimaginable sin in the eyes of God - to the point that in all three religions idolatry declare it the worst type of sin possible.

It was the mission of all Prophets to stop idolatry and in some cases they actually physically destroyed them to show the people who were worshiping them that the idols had no power whatsoever and that they could neither harm or benefit them in any way. The Taliban were simply following in this tradition.

I take your point about Mecca but, if i may say, that analogy is flawed on two counts. 1 The Buddhist idols in Afghanistan were not at the center of the Buddhist religion to where every Buddhist would turn, like Mecca is to the Muslims and 2. There will never be a time when Muslims are not in Mecca because non Muslims are not allowed there. Having said all that, if you were to apply the analogy to an empty derelict and rundown mosque in the middle of a rain forest in the middle of nowhere where no Muslims lived...i do not think there would be any complaints (maybe a couple but certainly not like the hysteria created in Afghanistan)

The point is, Muslims have vast experience of living along side minority groups in Africa and the Middle East and have been more than tolerant of them, this is a separate case as there was no minority to be tolerant of.

with respect

Hamza
Jason

So then you feel that if the majority of a country is 1 religion, they should be able to do whatever they want to other minority religions in their country? So if the US wanted to destroy all mosques in the US, you would be ok with that? Or is it only ok when Islam subjugates other religions?

Hamza: Hello Jason, Islam has a long history of supporting, protecting, assisting and living in peace with people of other faiths. This situation in Afghanistan then and now does not involve a minority as there are no Buddhists living there and therefore the stone idols do not serve any purpose other than to attract tourists. It was an affront to the Muslims living there as it was a symbol of idolatry. The point is that if there was a community there still practicing Buddhism then i am sure this would not have happened

On more point, Islam does not Islam subjugates other religions
Nasim Fekrat

I am very eager to know and read your blog. Have you been in Afghanistan also in Bamyan? I am very interested to have contact with people like you.
How are the things going on and from where you are writing?

I am an Afghan boy writing blog www.afghanlord.org from Afghanistan but faced with lots of problem.

let me know please.

Nasim Fekrat
Kabul, Afghansitan
Sulayman

Can't argue with you there. There are no buddhists in Afghanistan anymore anyway.

British Journalist Yvonne Ridley (the sister who accepted Islam after her release) was critical of the way Afghanistan under the Taliban was ostracized. The Afghans told her that nobody cared for them when they needed food for their people, but when they decided to destroy some "rocks" (the Buddha statues), "suddenly the whole world wanted to talk to us."