November 20, 2009, marked the 30th anniversary of the siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, in which hundreds of armed extremists led by Juhayman Al Utaibi took control of the Islam holiest shrine for two weeks. It was 1979.
The attack represented an important moment in the history of the Islamic militant groups for two main reasons: the mosque’s spiritual importance in the Islamic faith and the large number of casualties.
Yaroslav Trofimov, investigative journalist and author of the book entitled (The Siege of Mecca) says “This was the turning point for the kingdom, which was experiencing a tentative modernization and liberalization until then”.
“As a price for allowing the Saudi military to violate the religious precepts and engage in combat inside the holy mosque, the Saudi scholars extracted a promise from al Saud to reverse that liberalization” he added.
Almost immediately after the Mecca siege, women were banned from Saudi TV newscasts, alcohol restrictions started to be enforced much more vigorously, and most importantly the Saudi state started pouring millions of petrodollars into the Wahhabi missionary outreach all over the world, Yaroslav noted.
Juhayman is a history
On the other hand, Dr. Khalid Al-Dakhil, a Saudi professor of political science said that the incident´s historical significance because it was the introduction of “terrorism acts” in the Kingdom.
Al-Dakhil added that Juhayman “is not a reference to anyone within these groups at the present time due to the nature of his act, its considered forbidden to carry weapons and to shed blood in the Grand Mosque in Mecca”.
He said that Juhayman “has become history” especially as the Saudi government adopted conservative policies in the areas of media and education.
“The government adopted Juhayman conservative demands” throughout the 80s of last century, Al Dakhil added.
He said the turning point came with the adverse September 11, 2001, when implemented several reforms which included reviewing the curriculum in the official education, opening more opportunities to women, reforming the judiciary body, and more recently, the ongoing discussions to re-examine the concept of mixing between men and women.
Mansour Al Nogaidan, the Saudi researcher specializing in Islamic political groups says that the siege contributed in creating a grim political mood coincided with the growing threat of the Shiite Khomeini revolution in Iran, and the involvement of the first generation of Saudis in the Afghan “Jihad” against the Soviet Union.
“Some of the decisions issued by the Ministry of the Interior in Saudi Arabia several months before the event were inline with the conservative policies seen throughout the 1980s” he added.
The Siege anniversary and the Saudi media
The Saudi press did not mention the 30th anniversary; Al Nogaidan said this was a continuation of the local media oil habit not to address this incident.
He said “after the execution of those who have participated in the occupation, the Saudi media kept silence on the incident. Juhayman name was a taboo”.
But he noted that after the “terrorist bombing” carried out by four people in the Saudi capital in November 1995, the Saudis started talking frankly about the siege.
In the past decade, we have seen a new chapter of the story, as the base and the global Jihad ideology was expanded, we saw how
Juhayman turned to an icon, Al Nogaidan added.
It should be noted that since 2002, the Saudi press published dozens of articles about the siege, but the state television was still not mentioning the incident.
Yaroslav, who visited Saudi Arabia several times while writing his book, said that a great many witnesses and participants in that event are still afraid to talk about it, and those he tracked down often refused to be interviewed.
He noted “Nevertheless, I did manage to find several survivors among the rebels, and among the Saudi troops — though some of them had to remain unnamed in the book”.
Historical Perspective
The siege began in the early hours on November 20, when hundreds of gunmen seized the Grand Mosque using rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins.
Juhayman and dozens of his followers, according to Al Nogaidan, were students of the former Saudi mufti Abdul Aziz bin Baz, and the Syrian scholar Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani.
Juhayman stood, and at his side was Mohammed Abdullah Al-Qahtani, to announce the return the Mahdi, whom Muslims believe that he will appear before the end of the world. Juhayman then asked the present in the mosque to swear allegiance to Al-Qahtani as the Mahdi.
With nearly 100 thousand worshippers trapped inside, the siege lasted two weeks.
Saudi security forces have carried out an extensive operation to regain control of the mosque, which succeeded and freed the hostages.
