ISIS blows up ancient Burial site and Mosque of Jonah (of the whale story) in Mosul

Adamantium

http://www.arabnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/galleryformatter_slide/2014/07/24/mosul%20mosque2.jpg

http://www.arabnews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/galleryformatter_slide/2014/07/24/mosul%20mosque.jpg

BAGHDAD: Islamic extremist militants blew up a revered Muslim shrine traditionally said to be the burial place of the Prophet Jonah in Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, on Thursday, residents of the city said.

The residents said the Islamic State militants, who overran Mosul in June and imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law on the city, first ordered everyone out of the Mosque of the Prophet Younes, or Jonah, then blew it up.

The mosque was built on an archaeological site dating back to 8th century BC and is said to be the burial place of the prophet, who in stories from both the Bible and Qur’an is swallowed by a whale.

It was renovated in the 1990s under Iraq’s late dictator Saddam Hussein and until the recent militant blitz that engulfed Mosul, remained a popular destination for religious pilgrims from around the world.

Several nearby houses were also damaged by the blast, said the residents, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared for their own safety. The residents told The Associated Press that the militants claimed the mosque had become a place for apostasy, not prayer. The extremists also blew up another mosque nearby on Thursday, Imam Aoun Bin Al-Hassan mosque, they said.

The attack came hours after Iraqi lawmakers elected veteran Kurdish politician Fouad Massoum as the nation’s new president, as they struggle to form a new government amid the militant blitz that has engulfed much of northern and western Iraq.

Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of US troops amid the blitz offensive last month by Al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State group that captured large swaths of land in the country’s west and north, including Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul. The militants have also seized a huge chunk of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border, and have declared a self-styled caliphate in the territory they control

so...militant Islamic extremists blow up mosques now? what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIaq4RKwVt4

I heard about this group a few weeks ago and assumed that they were as powerful as teenager wannabe Anoyomous in his basement, with that map of their, I laughed.

catallus

I read this this morning and I'd say we have to take anything said about that group in particular and what's actually happening in Iraq in general with a huge pinch of salt.

wes

Adamantium wrote: »

so...militant Islamic extremists blow up mosques now? what?

They do this all the time, be the Mosques, Sunni, Sufi, or Shia. There a rather intolerant lot.

Hande hoche!

Reminds me of the Taliban and the giant Buddhas.

Spunge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6GLoKkkCtY

mickydoomsux

wes wrote: »

They do this all the time, be the Mosques, Sunni, Sufi, or Shia. There a rather intolerant lot.

Their religion of peace really does seem to have a lot of warring factions and horrendous punishments for perceived sleights.

Hande hoche!

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Their religion of peace really does seem to have a lot of warring factions and horrendous punishments for perceived sleights.

Cue mention of crusades, Salem witch trials, Madeleine laundries, etc.

Manic Moran

It's a shame. I drove by the tomb almost every day on my commute about ten years ago, it was quite possibly the best thing in the city. The locals took care of it, it was in wonderful condition, the tomb was on the top of a terraced hill. I am very disappointed (frankly, disgusted) that this shower have decided to blow it up.

And yes, it does remind me of the Buddhas. I don't know how well they'll be able to restore this one. It obviously wasn't built at the time Jonah died, so a rebuild, once the city is back under civilized control, shouldn't be out of the question.

Then again, on the scale of things, the recent decree that all females should undergo FGM is even more concerning. If this new Iraqi President has any influence and can convince the PM to create a more inclusive government, I'll be more than happy to see the US return to Iraq and get rid of these nutters.

My Loch Ness Monster at the tomb: http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/nessjonah.JPG

kneemos

No doubt if the US could breath life back into Saddam they'd be more than happy with his brand of madness over what's happening at the moment.

Muise...

Manic Moran wrote: »

It's a shame. I drove by the tomb almost every day on my commute about ten years ago, it was quite possibly the best thing in the city. The locals took care of it, it was in wonderful condition, the tomb was on the top of a terraced hill. I am very disappointed (frankly, disgusted) that this shower have decided to blow it up.

And yes, it does remind me of the Buddhas. I don't know how well they'll be able to restore this one. It obviously wasn't built at the time Jonah died, so a rebuild, once the city is back under civilized control, shouldn't be out of the question.

Then again, on the scale of things, the recent decree that all females should undergo FGM is even more concerning. If this new Iraqi President has any influence and can convince the PM to create a more inclusive government, I'll be more than happy to see the US return to Iraq and get rid of these nutters.

My Loch Ness Monster at the tomb: http://data.primeportal.net/iraq/nessjonah.JPG

Art, architecture, music (in Mali insurgent Islamist nutters banned music, in a culture of the most exquisite guitar playing and proto blues/rock heritage) and women's faces and women's sexual pleasure (and through this everybody's pleasure) - these aren't actually religious fundamentalists but a crazed crusade against joy. :mad:

keano_afc

Its appalling whats happening there and its getting little to no coverage in the press. Christians have been there since Jonah went there and now for the first time in thousands of years they've been expelled.

ScumLord

I understand that the Muslim faith frowns upon idolising anything. I can appreciate it too when you see the idolisation that goes on in the Catholic church. But this kind of thing just makes no sense to me, I don't understand how they can attack their own heritage like that, the tomb of their profit, it just makes no sense. I'm disgusted, I can't imagine how decent Muslims must feel about this, it must be heart breaking and scary to have people like that move in around you.

Karl Stein

Medieval scum. Iraq was probably more stable under Saddam than it has been since the US et al invaded in 2003.

The disaster that keeps on taking. What a mess.

Victor

keano_afc wrote: »

Christians have been there since Jonah went there and now for the first time in thousands of years they've been expelled.

Christianity wasn't formed until 800 years after Jonah.

Karl Stein wrote: »

Iraq was probably more stable under Saddam than it has been since the US et al invaded in 2003.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but it is hard to say that. Saddam brought purges, brutalisation of the population, the Iran-Iraq War, the Tanker War, the Kuwait War and wars with the Shia and Kurds in the 1990s and finally the Iraq War.

ScumLord

Victor wrote: »

I'm not saying you are wrong, but it is hard to say that. Saddam brought purges, brutalisation of the population, the Iran-Iraq War, the Tanker War, the Kuwait War and wars with the Shia and Kurds in the 1990s and finally the Iraq War.

At least Saddam's terror was somewhat confined to your standard brutal dictatorship stuff. These guys are essentially erasing the regions history by carrying out acts like these. That mosque will just be historical text from now on, the people in that area have lost a link to their past.

Piliger

This kind of thing used to bother me but not any more. These primitive muslim societies haven't contributed anything to the world or to society for a millennia, and the value of these ancient edifices are long gone. Blow them all up I say ... we in the real civilisations of the world have moved on. by a thousand years.

Harry Palmr

So then no chance of Simon Cowell heading to Iraq to spread his word...ah well.

ScumLord

Piliger wrote: »

This kind of thing used to bother me but not any more. These primitive muslim societies haven't contributed anything to the world or to society for a millennia, and the value of these ancient edifices are long gone. Blow them all up I say ... we in the real civilisations of the world have moved on. by a thousand years.

As a human being I see all these buildings as part of my heritage as well. Mosques of that era were the pinnacle of architecture at the time, it represents a time in human history when great leaps in science and mathematics were made. The people that built that mosque had a huge influence on the modern world we live in, and now that link has been destroyed.

It's wrong in so many ways, we can add it to the list of great buildings that have been destroyed so that all future generations are left with is a pile of rubble and ruins.

iDave

Havent they demanded all women in their control go through FGM?

Karl Stein

Piliger wrote: »

These primitive muslim societies haven't contributed anything to the world or to society for a millennia, and the value of these ancient edifices are long gone. Blow them all up I say

This is exactly the type of disgusting attitude that led to the destruction of Iraq by 'civilised' Western 'Christian' nations in 2003.

Sick.

NewCorkLad

Karl Stein wrote: »

This is exactly the type of disgusting attitude that led to the destruction of Iraq by 'civilised' Western 'Christian' nations in 2003.

Sick.

The good old USA have a lot to answer for throughout the Middle East

Friend Computer

Piliger wrote: »

This kind of thing used to bother me but not any more. These primitive muslim societies haven't contributed anything to the world or to society for a millennia, and the value of these ancient edifices are long gone. Blow them all up I say ... we in the real civilisations of the world have moved on. by a thousand years.

An instance where comparisons to Nazism are entirely justified.

buried

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Reminds me of the Taliban and the giant Buddhas.

Very similar to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. The Taliban's decision to destroy those huge statues was taken after a heavy lobbying campaign by foreign militants inside Afghanistan supported by a series of fatwas sent from Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia (fatwa of Sheikh Ali Bin Khodeir al-Khodeir - Feb 2001, reproduced in Jacquard, Les Archives Secretes d'al-Qaida, p 312)
I would not be surprised this vile crime on civilization sprang from something similar.

ScumLord

buried wrote: »

Very similar to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.

At least that made some sort of sense, different religion and all. Blowing up their own Mosques and desecrating the tomb of their own profit just makes no sense at all.

Donkey Oaty

iDave wrote: »

Havent they demanded all women in their control go through FGM?

They're insane enough to demand anything, but this particular story is controversial - they've denied it, and there are doubts about whether it is accurate. Guardian report here.

P_1

ISIS are disgusting excuses for human beings. Fine you want to follow a particular strange definition of Islam, go for it but fcuk you if you want to force others into following it too.

Piliger

Karl Stein wrote: »

This is exactly the type of disgusting attitude that led to the destruction of Iraq by 'civilised' Western 'Christian' nations in 2003.

Sick.

No it's not an attitude. It's a fact and your choice to ignore it is your own. Your complete nonsense about Iraq only undermines your post.

Piliger

Friend Computer wrote: »

An instance where comparisons to Nazism are entirely justified.

What a complete joke.

Pyr0

I don't care very much for religion itself but I acknowledge it's affect on our cultural and artistic development as a species, i feel sad at the loss of such ancient structures and the history surrounding them, you can't just rebuild something like that.

They say to really destroy a people you need to destroy not just their bodies but their history too, it's been attempted time and time again by so many creeds and ideologies, I can't see it ever stopping.

Hopefully (As with other extreme ideologies) somebody will step in a put a stop to all this fanatical killing and burning.

Muise...

ScumLord wrote: »

At least that made some sort of sense, different religion and all. Blowing up their own Mosques and desecrating the tomb of their own profit just makes no sense at all.

To outsiders, our sectarian conflicts in the North look utterly senseless (because they are...). I was living in France in 2001, and had to "explain" why people were lining the streets in a part of Belfast to spit on children on their way to school through an area occupied by the other sect. I'd say in every country with a Muslim majority, Shia or Sunni, this kind of thing makes almost everyone angry and sad.

Pyr0

Piliger wrote: »

This kind of thing used to bother me but not any more. These primitive muslim societies haven't contributed anything to the world or to society for a millennia, and the value of these ancient edifices are long gone. Blow them all up I say ... we in the real civilisations of the world have moved on. by a thousand years.

They have contributed a lot to the world and society. For a long period of time the Muslim world were at the forefront of scientific, cultural and mathematical development, it wasn't until the 16th/17th centuries that Western Europe began to catch up in these fields.

FTA69

Piliger wrote: »

No it's not an attitude. It's a fact and your choice to ignore it is your own. Your complete nonsense about Iraq only undermines your post.

There's an Iraqi lad in my boxing club who's training to be an engineer. I must inform him later on that he's a primitive savage. I don't know how he will take the news though.

Muise...

Pyr0 wrote: »

They have contributed a lot to the world and society. For a long period of time the Muslim world were at the forefront of scientific, cultural and mathematical development, it wasn't until the 16th/17th centuries that Western Europe began to catch up in these fields.

They are the ones who told us (of European and Graeco-Roman heritage) about Zero, which completely changed our mathematics. Being desert-dwellers and sailors (Phoenicians), they also had a grand view of the stars and so were leagues ahead of us on astronomy too.

We Irish can hold our heads up as outsiders too, given that our monks kept Classical texts going throughout the so-called "Dark Ages", when central Europe was in flux and the best scientific and cultural advances were being made on the margins.

sabat

Piliger wrote: »

No it's not an attitude. It's a fact and your choice to ignore it is your own. Your complete nonsense about Iraq only undermines your post.

You ever heard of what the Americans did to Babylon? They turned one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world and probably the most famous ancient city in history into an army base.

foreign troops and contractors bulldozed hilltops and then covered them with gravel to serve as parking lots for military vehicles and trailers. They drove heavy vehicles over the fragile paving of once-sacred pathways. The report also says that forces built barriers and embankments to protect the base, pulverizing ancient pottery and bricks that were engraved with cuneiform characters. They dug trenches where they stored fuel tanks for their helicopters, which landed near an ancient theater. Among the structures that suffered the most damage, according to the report, were the Ishtar Gate and a processional thoroughfare. Experts also say troops filled their sandbags with soil from a site that was littered with archaeological fragments.
Bricks were looted as well -- both those of Babylonian vintage

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/28/AR2009072802835.html

Sand

ScumLord wrote: »

I understand that the Muslim faith frowns upon idolising anything. I can appreciate it too when you see the idolisation that goes on in the Catholic church. But this kind of thing just makes no sense to me, I don't understand how they can attack their own heritage like that, the tomb of their profit, it just makes no sense. I'm disgusted, I can't imagine how decent Muslims must feel about this, it must be heart breaking and scary to have people like that move in around you.

From their perspective, anything human built which inspires awe, respect, reverence or admiration is an affront to god. That tomb was an impressive structure, built by human hands. It highlighted what human ingenuity and creativity could do with simple tools. God has not been proven to build anything to rival it.

Their brand of Islam is a harsh one taken from the desert tribes of the Saudi peninsula which for thousands of years contributed little or nothing to human civilisation. Even the admired Arabic civilisation of medieval times was essentially borrowed from the ruins of the Hellenistic and Persian empires those desert tribes conquered. When they conquered Alexandria, they ordered the library there (whatever had survived the earlier Christian fundamentalist mobs) to be burned - The Koran was the only book. Any book that agreed with the Koran was surplus to requirements. Any book that disagreed with the Koran was sacrilegious. There was a constant struggle between the desert tribe roots of Islam and the urban civilisations it spread into -a struggle that continues to this very day.

To these crazies, any work of human ingenuity, creativity or art is an affront to their god, who to their mind ought to be the only thing admired and respected. Deep down at the heart of all religious thought is a very strong anti-human thread. There is a constant hatred of civilisation, and a yearning for a holier, golden age that can be retrieved if luxuries are cast aside and human creativity crushed. If they can reduce humanity to huddled masses, living in rags amongst the ruins, then only God can be admired. That's why they destroyed the tomb.

end of the road

Piliger wrote: »

This kind of thing used to bother me but not any more. These primitive muslim societies haven't contributed anything to the world or to society for a millennia, and the value of these ancient edifices are long gone. Blow them all up I say ... we in the real civilisations of the world have moved on. by a thousand years.

what drivel, these buildings are of extreme historical signifficance whether you believe in religion or not

Tail Docker

Victor wrote: »

Christianity wasn't formed until 800 years after Jonah.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but it is hard to say that. Saddam brought purges, brutalisation of the population, the Iran-Iraq War, the Tanker War, the Kuwait War and wars with the Shia and Kurds in the 1990s and finally the Iraq War.

Or so we're told..

Donkey Oaty

We should destroy these ISIS people unless it worsens our access to oil.

conorhal

ScumLord wrote: »

At least that made some sort of sense, different religion and all. Blowing up their own Mosques and desecrating the tomb of their own profit just makes no sense at all.

They're Sunni fanatics, I assume that the mosque was a Shia shrine, no doublt some of Paisley's ludites would have been happy to see the Vatican blown to smithereens even though it's a Christian place of worship.

Nodin

conorhal wrote: »

They're Sunni fanatics, I assume that the mosque was a Shia shrine, no doublt some of Paisley's ludites would have been happy to see the Vatican blown to smithereens even though it's a Christian place of worship.

They blow up both Sunni and Shia shrines. They're iconoclasts.

Nodin

Piliger wrote: »

What a complete joke.

A fairly accurate one though.

conorhal

Sand wrote: »

Even the admired Arabic civilisation of medieval times was essentially borrowed from the ruins of the Hellenistic and Persian empires those desert tribes conquered. When they conquered Alexandria, they ordered the library there (whatever had survived the earlier Christian fundamentalist mobs) to be burned - The Koran was the only book.

It largely true that much Islamic scholarship was built on a foundation Greek, Persian and Roman learning, all of which was lost to the West with the fall of the Roman empire and only remenants remained in places like monastic libraries, but the Eastern part of the empire remained largely uneffected and still influenced by the cultures of their conquerers. It could be said that European learning collapsed with the fall of an empire, but Middle Eastern learning collapsed with the rise of one. Islam's spread slowly strangled it.
You also correctly identify their motivations, these creatures have a hatered of learning and seem determined to take a Pol Pot-esque 'year zero' approach to dismantling society so as to ensure a compliant population. There's nothing so dangerous to these ludites ideology as an educated individual.

conorhal

Nodin wrote: »

They blow up both Sunni and Shia shrines. They're iconoclasts.

We've had their like in Europe too, Savanorola and his 'Bonfire of the Vanities', and of course the Protestant reformation which in England commited one of the worst acts of cultural vandalism the world has ever seen, every monastaries library was burned and who know what was lost to that puritanical zeal, but at least here it never lasted long, Savanorola was hanged and the puritans were told to piss off to America.

mad muffin

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Cue mention of crusades, Salem witch trials, Madeleine laundries, etc.

Remind me if anything such as that has happened in the last 10 years? 20?

NewCorkLad wrote: »

The good old USA have a lot to answer for throughout the Middle East

I would think it's the good old UK That have forever fúcked up the middle east




What I don't understand is, where are the indignant protest from Muslims and "friends of Muslims groups"?

Why aren't they on the streets and demanding they have their religion back?

Why aren't they saying they've had enough of these extremists that have hijacked Islam?

Friend Computer

Piliger wrote: »

What a complete joke.

Did you not say "blow them all up", referring to Muslims? Genocide hasn't been restricted to the Nazis but your use of dehumanising language is rather similar.

Thankfully people like you exist only on the fringes and people have, for the most part, learned the lesson of what happens when people like you get into power.

Calibos

Muise... wrote: »

They are the ones who told us (of European and Graeco-Roman heritage) about Zero, which completely changed our mathematics. Being desert-dwellers and sailors (Phoenicians), they also had a grand view of the stars and so were leagues ahead of us on astronomy too.
.

A nitpick, but every single person on the planet had, 'a grand view of the stars' up till 100 years ago when the electric street lamp was invented.

Iwasfrozen

Nodin wrote: »

They blow up both Sunni and Shia shrines. They're iconoclasts.

Agreed but shrines are far more important to Shi'ites than they are to Sunnis.

Calibos wrote: »

A nitpick, but every single person on the planet had, 'a grand view of the stars' up till 100 years ago when the electric street lamp was invented.

You Irish? We have a rubbish view of the stars and it's nothing to do with lights.

wp_rathead

Friend Computer wrote: »

Did you not say "blow them all up", referring to Muslims? Genocide hasn't been restricted to the Nazis but your use of dehumanising language is rather similar.

Thankfully people like you exist only on the fringes and people have, for the most part, learned the lesson of what happens when people like you get into power.

to be fair think he meant the mosques and shrines that should be allowed "blow them all up"

Still load of auld bollocks though

end of the road

mad muffin wrote: »

Remind me if anything such as that has happened in the last 10 years? 20?




I would think it's the good old UK That have forever fúcked up the middle east




What I don't understand is, where are the indignant protest from Muslims and "friends of Muslims groups"?

Why aren't they on the streets and demanding they have their religion back?

Why aren't they saying they've had enough of these extremists that have hijacked Islam?

would you go out on the streets where these nutters are? thought not

renegademaster

kneemos wrote: »

No doubt if the US could breath life back into Saddam they'd be more than happy with his brand of madness over what's happening at the moment.

i'd say they knew well the conequences of removing Saddam and the rest of their moves the last 14 years, a multitude of endless wars to spend the poppy field dollars on, where will it all end?

Manach

conorhal wrote: »

, all of which was lost to the West with the fall of the Roman empire and only remenants remained in places like monastic libraries.

Somewhat incorrect - in the for a time after the Roman empire fell, there was a breakdown in societal technology and learning in Western Europe. But from around 700 onwards there were gradual advances made till by the Millenium, productivity in land usage surpassed that of the Roman era in parts of Europe.