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.
“Islamic State ‘blows up Palmyra arch,'” BBC, October 5, 2015:
Islamic State militants in northern Syria have blown up another monument in the ancient city of Palmyra, officials and local sources say.
The Arch of Triumph was “pulverised” by the militants who control the city, a Palmyra activist told AFP news agency.
It is thought to have been built about 2,000 years ago.
IS fighters have already destroyed two ancient temples at the site, described by Unesco as one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.
“The Arch of Triumph was pulverised. IS has destroyed it,” Mohammad Hassan al-Homsi, an activist from Palmyra told AFP on Monday.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring the conflict, said sources on the ground had confirmed the destruction.
Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdul Karim also confirmed the news, and told Reuters news agency that if IS remains in control of Palmyra, “the city is doomed”….

Jay Boo says
“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.”
Muhammad’s black stone idol at the Kaaba. and satanic verses inspiration may be on the chopping block
Jaladhi says
Hey” nice” guys these ISIS terrorists. (sarc) They even put barbarians to shame !! They want to go to the times of neanderthals!!(no insult to neanderthals)
Budvarakbar says
No — these insecure little twits would blow up any caves that have any cave wall carvings or paintings in them
nathan says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kwd-8lJUhI
Oh dear!
Angemon says
Meaning it goes the way of every non-muslim civilization unfortunate enough to be infected by islam.
Walter Sieruk says
That is all the thugs who compose ISIS know how to do. Which is destroy. They destroy destroy ancient historic sites, they destroy art, they destroy buildings,they destroy literature. The callous characters of ISIS go such such heinous and villainous and murderous extremes that they even destroy people. The ISIS fiends are so wicked, destructive, deadly and dangerous that they are similar, in character, to the hideous villains describe in the Bible in Romans 3:15-17. Which reads “Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are their ways, and the way of peace they have not known.” [K.J.V.]
Jaladhi says
This is Islam and Muslims – you are letting them off easy by calling them thugs – they are not just neighborhood thugs, their actions are entirely motivated by Islam! Islam and its followers destroy humanity!!
Budvarakbar says
Just following the commandments and sacraments laid out in their ‘scriptures’ — better start catching on!
Doug says
I’ll bet they are having wet dreams over blowing up the Arc de Triomphe in Paris!
dumbledoresarmy says
And the Louvre. And the Uffizi. And the Sistine Chapel.
And the Rijksmuseum with all its lovely Rembrandts.
the sharia, if followed to the letter, *forbids* ALL statuary and all visual representation of living beings whether human, animal or mythological.
Wherever there is or has been art of that sort within Islamised societies it has been produced not *because* of Islam but *in spite of* Islam.
Mazo says
Vegemite muncher, Persian style miniature portraits of humans were produced in both Shia and Sunni Persianate empires like the Moghuls, Safavids, and Ottoman states.
Budvarakbar says
So what?
mahghan says
Just so surprised that the Pyramids of Egypt have not been obliterated–especially that Sphinx. But am not holding my breath.
DRHazard says
As the article says it is an axiom of Muslim thinking that everything any civilization created before Islam’s existence came from the minds of ignorant people and that destroying the traces left from those civilizations demonstrates the superiority of Islam. This is something Muslims are compelled to do for several reasons (that Muhammad knew but never said):
1. They look at the rest of the world and it’s history and feel inferior deep down under all their bullshit. It’s thousands of years since the civilizations of Rome and Greece ended but their accomplishments still surpass anything the Muslim world has achieved.
2. It’s way easier to blow something up to prove a point than it is to build something to prove a better point. ISIS and Muslims in general lack the skill, experience, and organizational abilities to make anything of meaningful value but they can wreak havoc using weaponry and explosives designed and manufactured by Crusaders, Zionists, polytheists and atheists.
3. ISIS knows it will piss people off which, like rebellious juveniles, makes them feel better. They are well on their way to becoming the biggest group of assholes the world has ever seen (along with their fans).
4. They needed more and bigger rocks since they play such a large part in their justice system.
5. Most importantly they do it because an illiterate, murderous, criminal sociopath who died 1400 years ago was overheard saying something about it, After hundreds of years of being retold his comments were finally compiled and used to form the model (Shariah) for all the numerous failed and oppressive Muslim societies that followed.
Brian says
The Largest Group of Assholes? I suppose they’re bigger than the Congress of the United States; they might be bigger than the unelected movers & shakers of the two socialist parties here. Where ISIS excells is in Tribal Savagery.
gravenimage says
Islamic State blows up ancient Arch of Triumph in Palmyra
…………………………
I wrote about this arch when I was at university–about the reach and influence of Greek and Roman culture and architecture.
The main reason that these pious Jihad thugs want to blow up these great treasures–along with their contempt and crazed hatred of “Jahillya”–is that *Infidels* value history and art.
Given time–and not much of that–they will destroy all the priceless artifacts of Palmyra.
God, I hate Islam.
abad says
ISL are demons. All of them.
Enragedsince1999 says
EVERYWHERE US intervenes, a horrible catastrophe befalls Christians:
1983: the US expels Israel from Lebanon right after Israel had stopped jihad on the Lebanese Christians. IMMEDIATELLY, the jihadis “thank” the US by blowing up the US embassy and killing 241 us marines with a single truck bomb. Reagan orders the surviving marines to just run away. The jihad on Christians resumes with vengeance. Entire Christian communities razed.
1999: US bombs Serbia and gives Kosovo to Albanian terrorists who massacre Serb civilians and destroy 150 magnificent Serb Christian churches and monasteries, 100 of them on UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.
2003: US “liberates” Iraq. Pre-Islamic cultural treasures and Christian churches of Iraq looted and destroyed. The Christian population of Iraq becomes fair game for the Muslims to kidnap, rape and murder. Before the “liberation”, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Now, there are fewer than 150,000.
Now: The US-backed jihadis are destroying the Christian community and the pre-Islamic cultural treasures of Syria.
Budvarakbar says
See any connection here between the Bushies (VP in 1983), the treasonous Klintoons, and the big BO?
The whole DC establishment needs to be hosed out!
Enragedsince1999 says
My sentiment exactly.
mortimer says
Western politicians who refuse to learn the JIHAD DOCTRINE and the doctrine of ISLAMIC SUPREMACISM, TAQIYYA and DHIMMITUDE will be out to lunch whenever Muslims try to manipulate them. The ‘religion of peace’ eyewash is not believed by any Muslims…it’s pure disinformation.
Dave J says
Mindless destruction is their specialty.
Visit the Caliphate and see the wonders we have blown up, it’s a dusty desert without art, music, humor or love. Enjoy the purity of our nihilism. Remember to praise us and all our achievements. It is compulsory.
sidney penny says
Nothing new,this has been going on for ages.
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/htemples1/
HINDU TEMPLES WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM
Volume 1 A Preliminary Survey
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/htemples2/
HINDU TEMPLES WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM
Volume II The Islamic Evidence
(Second Enlarged Edition)
sidney penny says
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/islamic-state-jihadis-behead-82-year-old-archaeologist-in-palmyra
“DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Islamic State (IS) militants beheaded an antiquities scholar in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and hung his body on a column in a main square of the historic site, Syria’s antiquities chief said on Tuesday.”
“Had Khaled Asaad drawn any cartoons?”
Infidela says
When Islamic state goes, we’ll rebuild it.
Baucent says
Palmyra is suffering a death of a thousand cuts. Islamic State are giving the world a drip fed destruction to keep itself on the front pages. Actually the best hope for Palmyra is for the world to lose interest in the place. Only then is there a chance they may save their explosives for some more strategic target.
horrifiedbacongirl says
How dare these disgusting mad men ruin these amazing buildings, these priceless relics. Things that were standing well before their births and should have been standing well after their deaths. Its outrageous.
Jay Boo says
Everything is a threat to Islam.
From mockery of Muhammad’s behavior to the helpless captive black stone in Mecca, or little girls with clitorises, women who look men in the eye and have opinions, old buildings, other religions and Muslims who fail to pray or assist Allah punishing disobedient sex-slaves. And let’s not forget about APOSTATES.
Maybe Allah is not so great. as Muslims claim.
Mazo says
Nice logic by JihadWatch.
Take a verse and an account by Naipaul which says ruins should be preserved as an exhibit to show how pre-Islamic civilizations failed, as an example so Muslims can see the ruins.
Claims that the verse justifies blowing up and pulverizing the ruins so that there is nothing left to see, with no ruins at all and there are no destroyed remnants for Muslims to look at for the ways of life which have passed before Islam.
Oh, so when Jesus said turn the other cheek, according to JihadWatch logic, he meant to say “slap your opponent on the cheek if he hits you”.
boakai ngombu says
you missed something, Mazo …. the Allah god of islam (unknowable; the best of all deceivers) has need to give evidence that it is greatest. for the slave who emulates Muhammad (lately contrived; full of lusts) there must be no doubt that the Allah god of islam is greatest. the position is to be upheld … eyes front … no wondering allowed
when Jesus advised to turn the other cheek, He was asserting greatness; His power – when fully used – will be to bring vengeance to the unfaithful who doubt the God of Abraham, who justifies the faithful.. His power is greatest in that He can bring to condemnation the unfaithful, yet bring to fulfillment and life all the faithful for all of time.
beware, when Jesus returns, all will know Him to be the Victor [all those slaves of the Allah god of islam – who remain slaves – will know they are condemned and that the Allah god of islam is also condemned]
Budvarakbar says
Someone needs to go back outside and scrape their shoes off!