Adonis Diaries

What happened in Nov. 1979 at the Grand Mosque of Mecca?

I watched the BBC documentary on this event and had to refresh my memory and explain a few consequences from this monumental insurgency.

In Nov. 1979, over 200 Wahhabi salafists occupied the Grand Mosque on Mecca and proclaimed the arrival of the Mahdi Mohamad bin Abdalallah Kahtan.

Total blackout of world media for 15 days.  

The Grand Mosque is a huge 3-story edifice, with corridors running for 400 meters. The Zamzam Well is located in its basement. It is the well the pilgrims need to drink its water to get the full benefit of the pilgrimage.

Led by Jouhaynman, out of food, water and ammunition and dazed by the CS gaz used by the French special team, they surrendered.

The surviving fighters were later executed in 8 cities.

And Saudi Kingdom stopped the public modernization of the kingdom and reverted to the Wahhabit restrictions as they started their rule.

As as expected, the female gender was first to experience the brutal restriction of this renewed religious extremism.

Female public presence on TV and institutions were prohibited.

The door was wide opened for all these virulent extremists to be transferred to Afghanistan  supposedly to resist the Soviets.

The like of Ben Laden and supporters were encouraged to leave the Kingdom and participate in the Jihad.

The Kingdom supported these extremist movements with finances, weapons and opening countless religious madrassat, headed by Wahhabi Imam clergy.

Jouhaynman and Mohamad bin Abdalallah Kahtan are young, tall and handsom men. Many of their followers were the descendants of those early military leaders of the Wahhabi Okhouwan movement that brought the Saud family into the throne.

Saud followed the US and British orders to tame the military wing of the Okhouwan movement in order to support his kingdom. Saud had brutally assassinated and exiled the former military leaders.

The Wahhabi Okhouwan movement has devastated Medina and demolished the Prophet tomb and the mosque. When they entered Mecca, they intended to demolish Al Ka3ba. The Moslems in India, Turkey and Egypt were up in arms and the British didn’t want to handle all these uprising at the same time.

Note 1: I was in the USA and followed world news religiously, but the media blackout enabled me to know about this insurgency only the fighters surrendered, 15 days later.

Note 2: Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mohammad Ali of Egypt in the 19th century and after many persistent orders of the Ottoman Sultan, had crushed the Wahhabi military virulence and entered their capital. The Wahhabis used to frequently launch razzias on the outskirt of Damascus and terrify the tribes by mass slaughterhood. The British were the main supporters of this Wahhabi movement through money and weapons.

Note 3: The current wrath of Saudi Kingdom of Qatar is mainly against the channel Al Jazeera that covers bad and harmful news seeping out of the Kingdom.