Saudi King Abdullah has died

[Simfan34]

I was a little earlier reading an article in the Washington Post that pointed out that Salman is himself not in the best of health:

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I am not by any means a fan of the House of Saud and the state they helm. Indeed I'd say it's one of my least favourite regimes if not right at the top (behind the terrorist Italian colonial entity, of course) for a number of reasons; their fanatical Wahhabist sect of Islam which they've spread around the world to catastrophic effect, destablising literally dozens of countries, including most of those I feel attached to; the repressive and regressive rules that sect imposes; their racist treatment of Africans and meddling in our affairs. I could go on and on.

But the fact is that Abdullah was a leader who made positive changes, while from all appearances facing serious resistance from fundamentalist clerics in even the most inoffensive changes. I'm not going to praise him as some progressive reformist, but considering the catastrophic effect Saudi-backed Wahhabism has had on our world, they were positive steps all the same.

I'd honestly admit to believing that I'd have a decided sense of schadenfreude if Saudi Arabia were to fall to pieces, but for the very same Wahhabism that so menaces us. When one of the "better" outcomes in such a scenario is the total implosion of the country and the formation of an Iranian-backed Gulf Shia state (as opposed to the emergence of a more conservative regime that would make the present one seem as liberal as the Shah's by comparison, which would be a very real possibility in such a scenario), one is sort of obligated to wish them well.

[Simfan34]

Nayef's son Mohammed (55) appointed deputy crown prince.

[Simfan34]

No, but then again most countries don't have fratrilineal succession.

[Simfan34]

So seeing as Salman supposedly has dementia, will a regent be appointed?

He gave a speech earlier today, so I don't think he's that.

[Simfan34]

Flags at half mast in this country today. Disgusting.

Ironically it is forbidden to fly their flag at half mast.

As for the Abraj al-Bait:

I think it's crass and vulgar! Remember when Jesus (aka Isa) threw the money changers out of the temple! Well here they are! Right on the masjid! It's desecration, Wahabi desecration.

[Simfan34]

They're not even done...







And the landscape, the barren hills, all look so desolate and depressing. They ought to work on those first. But look at this, it looks like a bullpen, the Kaaba is lost even close up:

[Simfan34]

Regarding Simfan's posts on this page: As I said recently in another thread, at least we can trust the people in charge of Iran not to bulldoze Persepolis to build a parking garage or something.

Well, that may certainly be true nowadays, but it's not for lack of trying by some. However it certainly does not compare to the apparently serious consideration currently being given to the idea of demolishing the tomb of Muhammad and re-interring him in an unmarked grave (as king Abdullah has been), an idea endorsed by the Saudi Grand Mufti and the late khatib of the Masjid al-Haram, and something Wahabists have been trying to do since the early 19th century.

The Wahabis already destroyed most of the artifacts of the Prophet's time: Muhammad's birthplace, his house in Medina, the tombs of his mother (which they doused in gasoline and burnt), father, wives, and daughter, to name a few. From a historical perspective it is a tremendous loss, an act of mass vandalism; from a religious perspective the toll must be incalculable. I'm surprised that you don't hear more about it, even from Islamic sources. It's the same thing al-Qaeda did in Bamiyan, Ansar Dine in Timbuktu, and what ISIL are now doing in Iraq and Syria, and for the same reason.

[Simfan34]

See the tiny black dot there? That's the most sacred site in Islam.

Now look what's happened:

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34226003

[Simfan34]

Up to 102

e:

Flags at half mast in this country today. Disgusting.

Just like Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Augusto Pinochet, or Francisco Franco before him, King Abdullah provided much needed stability or something.

Not sure I can excuse Pinochet, but yes. Yes they did. None of these men spent tens of billions of dollars spreading their radical fundamentalist religious ideology around the world, either.