Besides removing supposed temptations to idolatry, Islamic jihadists want to destroy the artifacts of non-Muslim civilizations because doing so testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur’an suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth:
Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth. (Qur’an 3:137)
This is one of the foundations of the Islamic idea that pre-Islamic civilizations, and non-Islamic civilizations, are all jahiliyya — the society of unbelievers, which is worthless. Obviously this cuts against the idea of tourism of ancient sites and non-Muslim religious installations. V. S. Naipaul encountered this attitude in his travels through Muslim countries. For many Muslims, he observed in Among the Believers, “The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of Muslim theology. History has to serve theology.” Naipaul recounted that some Pakistani Muslims, far from valuing the nation’s renowned archaeological site at Mohenjo Daro, saw its ruins as a teaching opportunity for Islam, recommending that Qur’an 3:137 be posted there as a teaching tool.
“Isis in Syria: 1,500-year-old Mar Elian monastery bulldozed by Islamic State in Qaryatain,” by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times, August 21, 2015 (thanks to David):
Islamic State (Isis) militants have bulldozed parts of the ancient monastery of Mar Elian in Qaryatain, a strategic town located in the central Syrian province of Homs which has been seized from forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. IS-linked Twitter accounts posted pictures of the destruction of the monastery, which was founded in 432 on the claimed spot of St. Elian’s death, for “worshipping a God other than Allah”.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), IS also transferred dozens of Assyrian Christians, who were kidnapped after the capture of Qaryatain, near its northern Syria de facto capital of Raqqa.
Mar Elian is also the place where priest Jacques Mourad was abducted back in May. Mourad was known to help both Christians and Muslims and was preparing aid for the arrival of hundreds of refugees from Palmyra….
The jihadist group captured Qaryatain, which lies south-west of Palmyra Roman ruins and 85km from Homs, after heavy clashes with regime forces. Then the group abducted about 230 Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholics. Of those captured, 48 have been released and 110 were transferred to Raqqa, according to SOHR. The Christians would be given the choice of conversion to Islam or paying “jizya”, a tax on non-Muslims.
Earlier in March, IS blew up part of the ancient monastery of Mar Behnam in Iraq near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, south-east of Mosul. Photos released by IS members on social media show the 4th-century monastery’s tomb complex of Mar (Saint) Behnam and Mart (Saint) Sarah reduced to rubble.The monastery was also founded in the 4th century and built on the tomb of Berhnam and his sister Sarah, who were converted to Christianity by St Matthew. IS fighters stormed the monastery in July 2014 and expelled its resident monks.
“They’re doing this gradually. They scared the people away and now they’re destroying these people’s heritage. I don’t understand: why would you do that? Why destroy something it’s not yours?,” al-Jeloo said. “No palace, monastery, church, ruins is ours to destroy. It’s the world’s property. That’s why I’m concerned the world’s community is not doing enough to stop Isis.”
In March, an IS-linked Twitter account posted pictures of what appears to be jihadists smashing crosses and defacing statues, Christian murals and paintings at St George Chaldean Catholic monastery near Mosul. The monastery, located on the Ba’werah neighbourhood on a hill north of Mosul on the other side of the Tigris river, was founded by the Assyrian Church of the East in the 10th century but rebuilt as a seminary by the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1846.
Also in March, IS militants reportedly bulldozed the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra, and the Nimrud archaeological site near Mosul. On 26 February, the jihadist group published a video showing militants destroying artefacts in a Mosul museum and at the Nergal Gate to ancient Nineveh.

Lynn says
“It is the nature of islam to dominate not to be dominated; to impose it’s laws upon all nations and to extend it’s power to the entire planet.” Hasan Al=Banna founder of the muslim brotherhood.
muslims will preform cultural jihad everywhere they can. And it’s beginning in America thanks to the muslim in the WH and his handler Valerie.
PsychoBob says
Lynn hits the nail dead on. All of us are in serious trouble. Thanks, Obozo.
Jay Boo says
Muhammad NAILED a six year old girl.
“Besides removing supposed temptations to idolatry …”
— Muslims resisting Temptation???
Muhammad is their — ‘perfect example’
But, to be fair the six year old did apparently consent.
mortimer says
Sex is the main preoccupation of Islam.
Jihadists seek to die in jihad, so they may be rewarded with eternal erections. Murder is rewarded by eternal sex with slaves.
pfbonney says
“But, to be fair the six year old did apparently consent.”
Well, apparently not, from what I’ve found:
“Aisha consented to the marriage. If it was abuse, she would have left Muhammad[edit] In Islam, a virgin’s silence is her “consent”.[32][33] To the rest of us, this does not constitute consent, and the idea that a young child’s willingness to engage in sexual activity with a grown adult somehow makes the act morally justifiable is abhorrent. It is an excuse that many pedophiles use to justify their behavior.
“In fact, Aisha did not consent to her marriage. This is the specific reason why Islamic scholars are “unanimously agreed that a father may marry off his young daughter without consulting her.”[34] Furthermore, “there is no age limit to be intimate with one’s wife even if she is a minor (did not attain puberty)”, but “when she attains puberty, she has the right to maintain the marriage or discontinue the marriage.”[35]
“As to not leaving him; both of the young victims, aged 12 and 15, of Warren Jeffs, the polygamist cult leader, did not leave him. They “entered into unions with Jeffs willingly, and did not participate in the trial against him.”[36] Regardless of the victims support for him, he was still a pedophile and was convicted in 2011 of sexually abusing children.” – http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Responses_to_Apologetics_-_Muhammad_and_Aisha#Aisha_consented_to_the_marriage._If_it_was_abuse.2C_she_would_have_left_Muhammad
Jay Boo says
We do not need to wonder why Muslims so constantly insecure about their supposed “No god but Allah ideology.”
While it takes a bulldozer to knock down a stone monastery, just a few words reveals the slippery foundation of Islam that is based on someone who was so immoral that Muslims constantly feel a need to defend his alleged honor while they simultaneously do some of the very same disgraceful deeds that Muhammad himself did.
Lookmann says
IS also moved Christian captives to its stronghold::
Islamic State militants captured 230 people including dozens of Christian families after taking Qaryatain, the monitor reported at the time.
Of those captured, 48 had been released and 110 were transferred to Raqqa province, whose capital city Raqqa is the militants’ Syria stronghold, the monitor said on Thursday.
The Christians would be given the choice of conversion to Islam or paying “jizya”, a tax on non-Muslims, the monitor said, citing “informed sources.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Islamic-State-destroys-Syrian-monastery-moves-Christian-captives-Monitor/articleshow/48566966.cms
Jay Boo says
Islam tries to plagiarize and bastardize.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy+3
Gene says
Well, the dead Christians weren’t using it.
It’s probably too late know, but the Christians trained and armed to the teeth. Then, they should be given their own country with generous oil reserves. Next we should destroy ISIS and kill every single ISIS supporter.
Peter Charles says
Yes, they are savages trying to destroy civilization.
mortimer says
With the exception of Armenia, Christian nations in the Middle East don’t have an army to defend them.
Angemon says
Killing people AND their history, effectively removing all traces of their existence. Totalitarianism at its finest… 🙁
Brian says
Even graves are destroyed. Nothing is sacred to these psychopaths except Allah aka Satan.
CogitoErgoSum says
The bulldozers stand ready for the day that the mosque above the grave of Muhammad in Medina will be leveled to the ground. I hope I live to see it.
Matthieu Baudin says
“…V. S. Naipaul … observed in Among the Believers, ‘The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of Muslim theology. History has to serve theology.’…”
Naipaul has wrested with this ‘Year Zero’ mentality and other backward features of Revivalist Islam in ‘Among the Believers’ but also in ‘Beyond Beleif’ and in several other writings spanning decades; a period of thoughtful activity that began well before the horrors of 9/11. V.S. Naipaul has also explored the darker features and history of the New Left, particularly its corrosive effect within developing countries, including his native Trinidad. For these reasons he is someone well worth reading, for anyone trying to unravel the interconnected mess that binds Resurgent Islam to the New Left movement.
gravenimage says
“They’re doing this gradually. They scared the people away and now they’re destroying these people’s heritage. I don’t understand: why would you do that? Why destroy something it’s not yours?”
…………………………..
Unfortunately, pious Muslims believe *everything* is theirs–it all comes from “Allah”, so if Infidels are holding any wealth or territory or even their own lives, they are ‘stealing’ from Muslims.
As much as I mourn the destruction of this priceless site, I am even more concerned about the fate of the Christians who occupied it until so recently. If the past is any predictor–and it is–they face enslavement and murder.
God, I hate Islam.