| Baghdad Sikh Shrine destroyed by fanatics |
|
|
|
| Written by DNA India | ||||||||
| Friday, 25 May 2007 | ||||||||
|
Iraqi National Congress chief Ahmed Chalabi, one of Iraq's prominent leaders, who drove down through the desolate streets of Baghdad to the sacred Sikh site last night under heavy military protection, said 'it has unfortunately been wiped out by fanatics because they thought it was against Islam'. "It's shameful they cannot respect someone who has millions of followers," he said at the gurdwara site along the river Tigris. Iraqi officials escorting Chalabi informed him about the original design of the gurdwara that was built alongside the tomb of a Muslim religious leader, which has suffered no damage. "We will rebuild it," Chalabi said even as he admitted he did not know that a Sikh shrine had ever existed in Baghdad, which houses the Indian embassy. The Iraqi leader, seen as close to the Bush administration, ruled out the possibility of the gurdwara being destroyed in military fire. "It was a mortar attack by some fanatic," he said, adding he believed it would have happened after the fall of Saddam Hussein. News reports during the Iraq war had suggested the gurdwara had suffered damage in the attack, but there has been no official confirmation until now from Iraq about its condition. The visit to the site revealed complete destruction of the shrine. Chalabi, who broke the lock at the gate of the shrine's compound to inspect the site, pointed out that the shrine's marble floor had been pulled out and its roof razed to the ground. Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who accompanied him, also requested immediate rebuilding of the gurdwara. According to Sikh history, Guru Nanak, the founder of the faith, visited Baghdad and had a discourse with Bahlol Dana, a sufi teacher. The gurdwara commemorating the Guru's visit lies near what is now a devastated railway station in Baghdad. "The Sikh community has contributed a lot to Iraq. They have worked here in railways, construction and a lot of other activities. We respect them and will see to it that this is rebuilt," Chalabi said. | ||||||||
Manjit Singh
said:
|
||||||||
Iraq is keen to rebuild a historic Sikh shrine commemorating Guru Nanak's visit to Baghdad, which had been destroyed by 'fanatics' after the invasion of the country by US-led coalition forces, a top leader said on Friday.
| I was really saddened when I read the news. I think we as a Sikh community should rebuild the shrine to its original design ourselves, in stead of the Iraqi Government, especially if it was originally built by the Sikhs. If it was originally built by the Muslim community, we should at least contribute in a big way in the planning, design, architecture, and construction of the site. And, please no Gold domes etc! Lets keep the originality and show that Sikhism considers gold, diamonds, rubies as maya! Yes, Guru's place can be made as beautiful as a palace of gold and rubies by keeping it simple but beautiful. Even Harmadir Sahib was originally designed by our Gurus without Gold and was meant to be a simple structure. The fancy gold was put on by Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was as much endulged in maya as any other Maharaja of India during those times and didn't really follow Sikh way of life. Lets build Gurdwaras as Gurus would have build them as a beautiful place for doing Naam Simran , and not like Maharajas or Kings or Queens would build them. Other sad part is that these kind of demolitions, agressions will keep happening against Sikhs as long as we keep electing poor leaders who are more concerned about their own power and control than the remebering the sacrifices and maintaining the glory of our great Gurus, who were the best planners, architects, engineers, constructors and builders and most important of all; the best Adminstrators, Managers, Psychologists and Leaders in the World! Proof is in enshrined in the the Guru Granth Sahib, Harimandir Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Sadh Sangat and the Khalsa! NO matter how you look at it and analyze it! Spiritually or Scientifically! |
harmeetsingh
said:
| Why doesn't article mention the extent of damage done to the Shrine rather it only mentions that it was "destroyed". Was it completely destroyed? It also doesn't mentions the time line when it was destroyed. Who was Mr Chalabi talking to while expressing this? Did Mr Chalabi specifically drove to the Sikh site? |
| Write comment |
| You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
