Siege of Makkah - Part 8

Here I am presenting an episode of blogs written by a very dear friend of mine whom I will disclose later for various reasons which will become apparent as time progresses. This is a ten part article and will present each part as interest in it by the readers suggest so.Please note that this series of articles is neither to defame a religion, a country or a sect. It is merely a window into an already published work. The author of this article is a Canadian Muslim who has himself spent a decade living in Saudi Arabia as well. So whatever you read, first of all dont judge a book by its cover. Here is part 8:



The Saudis brought in APCs--Armoured Personnel Carriers--to take out the militants as soon as the fatwa from the scholars was obtained. The ensued is detailed in Trofimov's book. I would limit myself to pointing out only a couple interesting details.

The minarets were secured through anti-tank missiles that were used to take out the militant nests on top. The sturdy structures remained otherwise undamaged. Without the militants firing from the minarets, the Saudi army enter the Masjid from Bab Salam with a few soldiers hiding behind each APC. Shielded from the militant fire, the Saudi army was able to inflict what were perhaps the first few casualties on Juhayman's band. Among the militants were some African Americans who had joined Juhayman. They were mostly former Black Panthers with an above average knowledge of violence and makeshift weapons. It was on their suggestion that some of the militants went and emptied out gasoline from vehicles parked in the basement of the Masjid. (These were the vehicles used by Juhayman and his followers to smuggle in food supplies and some of the weapons.) They then filled water bottles taken from pilgrims with gasoline, stuffed the bottle-top with a piece of cloth, showed it fire and threw them at the advancing Saudis from across the Safa-Marwa gallery. The 'grenades' worked well enough, and Saudis started running away. The 'grenades' weren't enough, however, to deter the advancing APCs.

Someone suggested that to stop the APCs, the 'grenade' would have to be dropped in the APC from the cupola. The task was near impossible though with APCs and remaining Saudis firing at anything that moved. This was when something extraordinary happened--something that only worked to strengthen the belief of Juhayman's band in their mission.

Muhammad al-Qahtani, who was in the Safa-Marwa gallery, stood up and said he will do the impossible. He was the Mahdi after all, and the Mahdi cannot die in these initial stages. He has to live to fight dajjal alongside Isa AS. With that, Muhammad al-Qahtani took two bottles of gasoline in hand, and ran across the Safa-Marwa gallery. Zig-zagging while being fired upon by many machine guns, he reached the first APC safely, climbed on it, killed the soldiers hiding behind the APC, opened the cupola, dropped in his grenade and ran to the next APC. The insides of both APCs exploded, with the occupants burning to their deaths. Muhammad al-Qahtani came back safely and other APCs started retreating, running over the poor soldiers that were hiding behind them. There was no room left for doubting the Mahdiship of Muhammad al-Qahtani among his followers.

The Saudis came back with vengeance and better planning the next day, though the carbonized APCs in the door way meant other APCs couldn't go in. Soon, Muhammad al-Qahtani and his few remaining companions were cornered, shielded by the rocks of Safa. After a while, the Saudis advanced further and decided on a different strategy.

They threw in grenades towards the militants. Muhammad al-Qahtani, once again believing in his immortality, did what is considered impossible. A 25-year old youth in good physical shape, he jumped, picked up the grenade, and threw it back at the Saudis. He proceeded to do that at least a dozen time in the next few minutes. But his luck finally ran out. As he reached another grenade to throw it back at the Saudis, it exploded, and along with it vanished the legs and the right arm of Muhammad al-Qahtani. When the Saudis identified the body four days later, a pathologist report indicated that he had only died a day ago. Some claimed seeing the unfortunate man crawling with the help of his remaining elbow and screaming for help.

It was reported in the local newspapers at the time that the mother of Muhammad al-Qahtani was arrested and brought to King Khalid in the early days of the siege. The monarch asked her if there was any way that Muhammad al-Qahtani can be stopped from what he is doing. The old lady calmly replied, if he is al-Mahdi, he will kill you no matter what you do to stop him. And if he is not al-Mahdi, you will kill him and for that you don't need me.

Seeing the Mahdi blowing up like that shook the belief of a few followers who saw what happened. However, they did not have any options left. The fatwa clearly said that anyone who surrenders will be spared and it was announced by the Saudis before the assault began. But a few who tried to surrender in the darkness of Safa-Marwa valley, where both sides let their machine guns loose on anything that moved, were killed within seconds of getting out of their hiding spots.

Only one militant was able to escape from that hiding spot in the Safa-Marwa gallery. Faisal Muhammad Faisal was always a hesitant follower, and now he had no doubt left that this mission was wrong. He found a way to Juhayman, who was busy securing the Qaboo--the basement area of the Sacred Masjid. Faisal Muhammad Faisal went straight Juhayman and informed him of the Mahdi's death. Juhayman knew that his game was over, that he was wrong in doing everything he had done. But he couldn't give up after coming this far. So he hid the news of al-Qahtani's death, and ordered a retreat to the basement, where hundreds of pilgrims were kept hostage. Faisal Muhammad Faisal turned in his gun and went in one of rooms where the pilgrims were kept hostage. He spent his remaining days crying over what he had done, asking for Allah's forgiveness. It was he who disclosed to the world many of the details of Juhayman's plan and the battle in the Safa-Marwa gallery. Faisal Muhammad Faisal was beheaded for his role in the affair--may Allah accept his repentance.

With the top floor of the Masjid secure, the Saudis started assessing the damage. The Safa-Marwa gallery was full of blood and body parts. The wall between the gallery and the Masjid was no longer there. Beyond that, there were pockets of resistance that were easily dealt with. The longest battle was put up by two young Egyptians who had hid behind the Hateem. They survived from as long as they did because of the Saudi's reluctance in shooting towards the Ka'baa.

The Saudis announced victory, though there were over a hundred and fifty militants still hiding in the basement, with King Khaled posing next to Hijr al-Aswad in a picture distributed to the media. With the militants coming out of the basement every so often to fire on the Saudi army before retreating back, the Masjid was not safe for the worshippers. With the massive damage and evidence of hundreds of deaths, the Masjid was not suitable for the media yet. After all, the Saudis still maintained that the incident was minor. The battle was to go on for many more days and the Saudis struggled to find a way into the vast Qaboo.

TO BE CONTINUED...