adminThe demolition of the large Sha’ab mosque happened in broad daylight on Saturday, drawing condemnation from government officials and Libyans across the country and abroad.
The president of Libya’s newly elected National Congress, Mohamed al-Magariaf, called the prime minister to an emergency meeting yesterday.
“What is truly regrettable and suspicious is that some of those who took part in these destruction activities are supposed to be of the security forces and from the revolutionaries,” Magariaf said on Saturday night.
He did not elaborate how security forces took part.
A public protest was held yesterday at the Algeria Square in Tripoli, calling for support against “the lawless minority” that carried out the attacks.
A reporter saw the bulldozer level the Sha’ab mosque as police surrounded the site and prevented people from approaching and did not stop the demolition. Inside the mosque, empty graves lay open in the rubble.
“A large number of armed militias carrying medium and heavy weapons arrived at the al-Sha’ab mosque with the intention to destroy the mosque because of their belief graves are anti-Islamic,” a government official said.
He said that authorities tried to stop them but, after a small clash, decided to seal off the area while the demolition took place to prevent any violence spreading.
“The SSC (Libya’s Supreme Security Council) joins the . . . condemnation,” Abdel Moneim al-Hurr, the council spokesman, said.
A man who appeared to be overseeing the demolition told Reuters the interior ministry had authorised the operation after discovering people had been worshipping the graves and practising “black magic”. The ministry was not available for comment.
In Zlitan, witnesses said that an armed group, claiming to be Salafis, carried out the assault on the Sufi shrine, the tomb of Abdel Salam al-Asmar, a 15th-century Muslim scholar.
“A group of criminals who have committed crimes against people inside and outside Zliten, entered and took cover in the mosque and fired at the revolutionaries,” Mohamed al-Teer, a witness, said.
“The revolutionaries fired back. They killed and captured some of them and the others escaped.”
The attackers also set fire to a historic library, reducing years of academic and religious writing to ash. While the official line from the government is condemnation, there are reports security forces stood by and just let this destruction go ahead.
One of Libya’s highest-profile cultural clashes since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi has been between followers of the mystical Sufi tradition and ultra-conservative Salafis, who say Islam should return to the simple ways followed by its prophet.
Salafis have formed a number of armed brigades in Libya. They reject as idolatrous many Sufi devotions, which include dancing and the building of shrines to venerated figures.
The Sha’ab mosque in Tripoli housed close to 50 Sufi graves inside and, outside, the tombs of Libyan Sufi scholar Abdullah al-Sha’ab and a martyr who fought Spanish colonialists. — Al Jazeera.
Online Reporter