The martyrs of Makkah

Also published in Daily Trust

Notwithstanding the title of this piece, and as a matter of principle, I am actually not in a position to categorically term the deceased victims of last Friday’s tragic crane accident in Makkah, martyrs, after all. This, however, doesn’t downplay the spiritual significance of the circumstances of their death that in fact constitute strong clues about their probable attainment of martyrdom, which I, and indeed all Muslims, wish them anyway.

It’s important to note that, though there are several different circumstances of death, as mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), that qualify a deceased Muslim to attain martyrdom, e.g. drowning and death under the rubble of a collapsed building etc, yet, no specific individual can be categorically termed a martyr without a clear confirmation in either the holy Qur’an or the authentic Prophetic Sunnah, or, at least, an unambiguous allusion to him in either of these two sources.

Obviously, since the departure of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who, being the messenger of Allah the Almighty, was the only individual in a position to term a particular deceased a martyr, Muslims can only, and are in fact encouraged to, keep wishing and praying for any fellow Muslim who died in one of such circumstances, to attain martyrdom.

By the way, the reward associated with martyrdom includes Allah’s instant and absolute forgiveness for the beneficiary, which qualifies him for direct admission into the most luxurious part of the paradise i.e. Jannatul-Firdaus where only prophets/messengers of Allah and other exceptionally pious people will live.

Now, looking back again into the particular circumstances of their death, it’s obvious that their prospects of attaining martyrdom are pretty good having been killed by the chunky debris of the collapsed concrete structures of the Holy Mosque following the crash of the giant steel crane on it. Incidentally, the German-made gigantic crane is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and is also the fifth largest in the world. It’s one of the several special heavy-duty construction equipment being used on the ongoing expansion project of the Holy Mosque, which, by the way,  is the largest expansion project in the history of the mosque, and which, when completed, will further enlarge the already largest mosque in the world to accommodate more than two million worshippers at a time.

Anyway, the deceased victims were also fortunate enough to die on a mission to perform Hajj i.e. pilgrimage, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, and which, if accepted by Allah the Almighty, cleanses a pilgrim from all his sins and renders him as sinless as a newborn baby, as assured by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Also, though they didn’t live to perform it, yet they stood an excellent chance of getting their full reward as though they indeed performed it, because they were there to perform it and were in fact eagerly looking forward to performing it.

Besides, they also died while engaged in various forms of worship rites right inside the Holy Mosque, which is the holiest place on earth, and where a single prayer attracts the same amount of reward attracted by more than one hundred thousand prayers, as guaranteed by the Prophet (pbuh). In other words, if a Muslim performs a Magrib prayer for instance in the Holy Mosque, Allah the Almighty will give him the reward for more than one hundred thousand Magrib prayers straight away. Their funeral rites (Janaza prayers) were also performed right there in the mosque.

They also died while worshipping and supplicating to Allah the Almighty and within the special time on Friday when Allah the Almighty never turns down supplications and requests (i.e. between Asr prayer time and sunset), as also affirmed by the Prophet (pbuh). Furthermore, they were buried in the same holy city of Makkah, which is the holiest of the only three holy cities in the world. The remaining two are Madinah, also in Saudi Arabia, and Al-Quds in the occupied Palestine.

Obviously, the foregoing would inspire and console the deceased victims’ relatives and dispel their worries over the fate of their loved ones in the hereafter. It would also overshadow the logic (if any) of the controversy that trailed the incident over the possible cause and the party(s) responsible for the incident, especially following the release of the initial report that put part of the blame on the construction company executing the project i.e. Saudi Binladin Group, which, though is the second largest construction company in world, was found to have negligently failed to handle the crane strictly in accordance with the manufacturer’s advice.

Equally, the released initial report partly blamed the incident on the unexpected strong windstorm that hit the holy city then, and caused the collapse of the crane, as it also effectively dismissed the allegation that the construction works were still going on when the accident occurred. After all, anyone with even a minimum familiarity with the vicinity of the Holy Mosque knows that, all construction and other heavy works on the expansion project site are put on hold during Hajj season.

Yet, the custodian of the two mosques, King Salman Ibn Abdul-Aziz Aal-Saud suspended the operation license of Saudi Binladin Group, which has also been suspended from taking on new construction projects in the kingdom. Similarly, all its ongoing construction projects elsewhere in the kingdom have been suspended, also all its top executives have been banned from travelling outside the country pending the conclusion of a full investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, though, the current monetary value of Diyya i.e. blood money is approximately three hundred thousand Saudi Riyals per a deceased victim, the Saudi government has undertaken to pay one million Riyals to the heirs of each deceased victim of the incident, which is equivalent to approximately sixty million Naira. The government will also pay the same amount of money to each injured person with permanent disability while half of this amount will be given to each injured person.