The demolition of a 300-year-old minaret of a mosque in southern Iraq last week to make way for a road extension has sparked outrage from residents and heritage authorities.
The toppling of the Siraji minaret in Basra on July 14 is another example of the destruction of Iraqi cultural history, say those who opposed the demolition. Last week’s demolition recalls the fate of the al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, for which residents formed a human chain to protect the hadba minaret – a civic landmark for centuries – when the mosque was first occupied by ISIS, which was destroyed in 2017.
But Basra’s historic 11-meter-tall minaret, with its brown mud-brick spire and turquoise ornaments, was demolished not by an extremist group but by Basra’s governor, Assad Al Eidani.
Al Eidani, who personally oversaw the demolition on the eve of what was coincidentally Iraqi Republic Day, claimed it was in the name of public safety as the minaret was in danger of falling. He added that the demolition was a necessary step for the expansion of the road in a growing city with traffic jams. But the Sunnis waqf (foundation) who own the land and the mosque, as well as officials from SBAH (the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage) claim that the demolition violated a long-standing agreement with the government of Basran to organize a withdrawal in security of the historic minaret and include it in a new mosque.
While Basra’s Sunni endowment chief Mohammed Munla was sacked on July 16 after publicly criticizing the demolition, SBAH director Laith Majid Hussein remains in place. He says The arts journal: “We are shocked by this action. The minaret was of great importance. It was in very good condition and one of the few intact minarets of its time.” It was also one of the few historical Sunni mosques in Basra and a favorite place for Eid gatherings.
While Hussein spoke of a “legal action” against the governorate of Basran for the demolition, as did Culture Minister Ahmed Fadak al Badrani, he said that “the priority now is to try to restore the remains of the minaret “. To that end, the rubble of the minaret is in a safe place but remains on the site of the mosque, originally built in 1727 but rebuilt in the 1980s. SBAH, he says, is consulting international experts on best practices for resurrect the beloved monument of Basran.
Hussein cited the reconstruction of the Abbasid-era minaret of Anah in Anbar province as an example of what is possible. In the mid-1980s, when it was threatened by several new dams along the Euphrates initiated by then-President Saddam Hussein, a team of experts dismantled the minaret into 28 pieces and removed it. moved to another site. It was destroyed in an explosion by unknown perpetrators which many Sunni leaders believed to be the work of Shia militias bent on destroying cultural heritage built during Sunni dynasties, including the statue of Caliph Mansur in Baghdad and the top of the minaret al Malwiya to Samarra. . In 2013, the tower was rebuilt based on the architectural plan kept by the Ministry of Tourism but was later destroyed by ISIS in 2016.
Al Eidani, the son of a prominent local sheikh who fled to Iran after participating in the 1991 Shia uprising, was arrested upon his return to Iraq and later became a key player in the 2003 de-Baathification purges that affected many disproportionately Sunnis. has seen recent popularity following Iraq’s success in the Arab Gulf Cup football tournament. With the upcoming provincial elections just months away and a wave of outrage over the demolition of the minaret on social media, his political fate remains uncertain. It is unclear whether the demolition of the minaret was motivated by sectarian politics or real estate and infrastructure development, as in Iraq these factors are often linked.
Meanwhile, Hussein says that despite many challenges, “SBAH is on a mission to preserve our heritage.” But sometimes, he says, “it feels like mission impossible.”
