Jakarta, NU Online
Member of the Supreme Council of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) KH Hasyim Muzadi warned that Saudi Arabia could face destruction if Prophet Muhammad's tomb was removed as called for by a certain group.<>

"Saudi Arabia will be 'destroyed' if it complies with the proposal and removes the tomb," he said when speaking at an Islamic Boarding School and Islamic Educators Forum on Wednesday night.

He made the remarks in response to a report by London-based The Independent on Monday, September 1, 2014, on a proposal by a leading Saudi academic to remove the Prophet's grave.

A Saudi academic had made the proposal through a 61-page document, which calls for the removal of the Prophet Mohammad's remains to the nearby Al-Baqi cemetery, where it should be interred anonymously.

Muzadi said the Indonesian government; Indonesian Islamic organizations, such as the Indonesian Ulamas Council (MUI); and every Indonesian Muslim cleric should condemn the proposal. He urged that Muslims in the world should oppose the plan to remove the Prophet's grave.

According to him, the proposal which is based on Wahhabi thoughts--had indeed also emerged several years ago.

Muzadi expressed hope that Saudi Arabia would not follow the consultation document's call. He said the Saudi government could be 'destroyed' if it followed the wishes of Wahhabis or the willingness of any group who wanted to remove the Prophet's tomb from Al-Nabawi Mosque to another place.

"It is possible that the plan is a maneuver launched by a certain group to create unrest among the Muslim communities," Muzadi, secretary general of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars, said on Wednesday.

The same criticism was also voiced by NU General Chairman KH Said Aqil Siroj, popularly known as Kang Said.

"We have rejected the plans since a long time ago," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He noted that in the past, the Hijaz Committee, which was the precursor of the establishment of NU, had also campaigned for rejecting the removal of Prophet Muhammad's grave and other holy sites in Saudi Arabia.

"If the Saudi government actually carries out the plans, it will witness its own ruin," Kang Said noted.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq