.... While Mecca is a site of great historical religious significance, it cannot be preserved in the familiar sense, as its history has not ended. You might not appreciate what it looks like – but it matches the tastes and requirements of the present, as every place of pilgrimage has done in its heyday. Who can say that in 2,000 years the Mecca clocktower that people deem so ghastly will not be treated with as much reverence as the palaces of the Vatican are today?
[A COMMENT] One of my muslim friends tried to explain to me the spiritual euphoria he felt taking the pilgrimage to Mecca: feeling a profound sense that humanity is one, regardless of superficial differences - a sort of divine universal energy, if you will. If only non-muslims weren't excluded by pain of death. 422 votes.
[ANOTHER] We've spent two centuries putting the idiocy of religion in its place, and now it looks as if we're going to have to start all over again. 637 votes.
[ANOTHER] What a strange piece from Nesrine. The Horrible House of Saud has been engaged in destroying the relics of Islamic past since they first cut their way to power - they have merely stepped up their barbarous game in recent times. This reads like an apologia. 281 votes. [Guardian Cif] Read more
