To name the Haramayn like a family business

(Before commencing with this article I wish to point out a slight change in my writing style, beginning with this article. Given that the majority of Muslims are not conversant with Arabic, I believe in the importance of at least maintaining a common vocabulary of words which have general understanding amongst the bulk of Muslims. Thus I only use Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه وسلم   and never accord “Prophet” and the like any special recognition. However, it has been brought to my attention that there are non-Muslim readers of my writings, or rather servants of Allāh who have not gained full understanding as yet. I therefore apologise beforehand if my writing appears clumsier. I am attempting to balance my principles without making Islām seem incoherent and secretive. May Allāh guide me to what is correct and what pleases Him). 

In respecting the Ḥaramayn (sacred cities of Makkah and al-Madīnah), Muslims are not following blind custom but uphold the dignity and love Allāh Himself accords them. Even if nothing else were said in the Qurān and Ḥadīth, the affectionate titles Allāh bestows upon them in the Qurān, are sufficient indication for those of intelligence and faith. Thus, Makkah is the Mother of all towns, and al-Madīnah is The Abode (of Migration of Rasūlullāh – Allāh’s Messenger - صلى الله عليه وسلم as well as being the Abode of Faith itself).  

وَهَذَا كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ مُصَدِّقُ الَّذِي بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَلِتُنْذِرَ أُمَّ الْقُرَى وَمَنْ حَوْلَهَا وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَهُمْ عَلَى صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ

And this is a Book which We have sent down, blessed and confirming (The Revelations) which came before it, that you may warn the Mother of Cities and those around her. Those who believe in the Hereafter, believe in it and they guard their prayers. [al-An‘ām: 92]

والذين تبوءوا الدار والإيمان من قبلهم يحبون من هاجر إليهم ولا يجدون في صدورهم حاجة مما أوتوا ويؤثرون على أنفسهم ولو كان بهم خصاصة ومن يوق شح نفسه فأولئك هم المفلحون

And those who inhabited the Abode before them and believed [before their arrival] love those who migrated unto them. They found no desire in their hearts for what they had been given, [but instead] preferred them to themselves even if afflicted with dire poverty. Indeed those who save themself from the greed of the self are certainly the successful ones. [al-Ḥashr: 9]

As an extension of their love for Allāh and His Rasūl [Messenger] صلى الله عليه وسلم  Muslims call these cities by many other names of respect and affection, e.g. aṭ-Ṭābah, aṭ-Ṭaybah -  the Pure City.  Many of these names originate from Allāh’s Messenger, Muḥammad صلى الله عليه وسلم  himself.

Naming a country after a family

The register of crimes of the Satanic Saudi regime includes many which no one ever before had perpetrated. Had these “first-ever” crimes not been so sad, it would have been humorous if one considers that the Saudi regime seems obsessed with labelling any practice they disagree with as “innovation.”  For example, they were the first to invite Christian and Jewish troops to trample the sacred soil of Arabia. They broke with the Islāmic tradition of affectionate names for Makkah and al-Madinah, and most audaciously they have been the first to rename the land as if it is some personal family estate or business, “SAUDI Arabia.” 

Yes, had the Āl-Sa‘ūd founded some vegetable shop and called it Saudi Veggies, or keeping with their family activity, had they opened a casino and called it Casino Saud, then that would be their affair, but when they take the historically unprecedented step of naming the sacred lands as if it were their family business, it should be a matter of offence to every Muslim of dignity and concern.  

Of great concern is how Muslims not only do not realise the gravity of this offence, or that it is an offence, but that that they casually say that they are visiting “Saudi/ Saudiyah”!!! Is that name integral to your understanding of the sacred cities? Why not drop the pernicious title of Islām’s enemies and say, “Arabia” instead? Indeed the best slave is one who does not realise he is a slave. How can Muslims accept this insult to the dignity of Islām when even the Christian monarchies never acted so arrogantly?

Christian Monarchies

·         Queen Elizabeth’s surname is supposedly Windsor, but that is a name to hide her German surname of Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. In either case, her family has never arrogated either name over England or the United Kingdom, nor have any of the previous ruling families such as the Plantagenets, Hanoverians, Stuarts etc. The House of Saud supersedes them all in arrogance. 

·         English ruling houses were relatively short-lived compared to the Capetians, who together with their relatives the Bourbons, ruled France from 987-1848. Nine centuries, but was France ever anything other than France? What utter arrogance, O House of Saud!

·          The Hohenzollerns ruled a little European county, Zollern, from before 1061. Eight centuries of epic expansion finally led to one of them being crowned over the united country of …. Hohenzollernia? No! One would think that if any family had the right to name their land after themselves it would be the family which took 8 centuries to unite their country. Yet they too did not have the arrogance of the House of Saud. A Hohenzollern was crowned in 1871 as GERMAN Emperor.

An Exception

The Saudis are not entirely alone however. Yet the nature of their company only emphasises the conceit of these two bedfellows. 

The Liechtensteins bought Schellenberg in 1699 and Vaduz in 1712 for political reasons. In 1719 they were incorporated as the Principality of Liechtenstein. Since the “country” was bought solely for political reasons, no Liechtenstein prince even bothered to set foot in the county for over 120 years! 

How similar to the Saudis who are more at home in their villas in Spain and France than in the land they named after themselves and which they milk like a cow.

Innovation

The innovation-obsessed Saudis need to answer for their criminal innovation of naming the sacred land of Makkah and al-Madīnah as if they are their family fiefs. This is an innovation no one before committed. This is but one crime out of many which make them wholly unsuited to rule a single grain of the sacred soil of Arabia. It is also a cover for their false claims of legitimacy. By maintaining silence on this matter, the Muslims too become complicit in the crimes of the Satanic Saudi regime. May Allāh grant that we see a day when the sun will rise on an Arabia free of the Saudi pollutant.

سليمان الكندي