3/11 A Day of Infamy

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Buddhas of Bamiyan were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into

the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley of central Afghanistan, situated 230

km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2500 meters (8,202.1 feet).

Most likely built in the fifth or sixth centuries, the statues represented a

classic blending of Greek and Buddhist art. The main bodies were hewn directly

from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modelled in mud mixed with straw,

coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long

ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of

the robes. The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same

mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the

upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks, or casts. The

rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs

which served to stabilize the outer stucco. Bamiyan

lies on the Silk Road, a caravan route linking China and India. It was the site

of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion,

philosophy, and Greco-Buddhist art. It was a Buddhist religious site from the

second century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the ninth century.

Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side

of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with

religious statuary and

elaborate, brightly-colored frescoes. The two most prominent statues were the

giant, standing Buddhas, measuring 55 and 37 meters (180 and 121 feet) high

respectively, the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world.

They were cultural landmarks for many years, the site being listed among

UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hsüan-tsang (Xuanzang)

passed through the area around 630 AD and described Bamiyan as a

flourishing Buddhist centre "with more than ten monasteries and more than a

thousand monks", and he noted that both Buddha figures were "decorated with

gold and fine jewels" (Wriggins, 1995). A monumental sitting Buddha similar in

style to those at Bamiyan still exists in the Bingling Temple caves in China's

Gansu province. When Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Afghanistan in the 12th

century, the Buddhas and frescoes were spared from destruction. Still, over the

years Muslim iconoclasts hacked away at some of the statues' details, mostly the

facial features and hands. Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor, employed heavy

artillery in an attempt to destroy the statues since orthodox Islam considers

any form of idol to be the highest sin ("shirk"). Destroyers of the Buddhas,

Afghanistan In July 1999, Mullah Mohammed Omar issued a decree in favor of the

preservation of the Bamiyan Buddhas. Because Afghanistan's Buddhist population

no longer existed, which removed the possibility of the statues being

worshipped,

he added: "The government considers the Bamiyan statues as an example of a

potential major source of income for Afghanistan from international visitors.

The Taliban states that Bamiyan shall not be destroyed but protected." Afghan's

Islamist clerics would begin a campaign to crack down on "un- Islamic" segments

of Afghan society. The Taliban soon banned all forms of imagery, music and

sports, including television. There is reason to believe that this was in

accordance with a strict interpretation of Islamic law. In March 2001,

according to Agence France Presse in Kabul, the decree declared, "Based on the

verdict of the clergymen and the decision of the Supreme Court of the Islamic

Emirate (Taliban) all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed. All the

statues in the country should be destroyed because these statues have been used

as idols and deities by the non-believers before. They are respected now and

may be turned into idols in future too. Only Allah, the Almighty, deserves to

be worshipped, not anyone or anything else." Remains of Buddhas of Bamiyan

after its last destruction from the Taliban Information and Culture Minister

Qadratullah Jamal told Associated Press of a decision by 400 religious clerics

from across Afghanistan declaring the Buddhist statues against the tenets of

Islam. "They came out with a consensus that the statues were unIslamic," said

Jamal. On March 6, the London Times quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as stating,

"Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we

have destroyed them." He had clearly changed his position from being in favor

of the statues to being against them. During a

March 13 interview for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Foreign Afghan Minister Wakil

Ahmad Mutawakel stated that the destruction was anything but a retaliation

against the international community for economic sanctions: "We are destroying

the Buddha statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious

issue". The Islamist Taliban government decreed that the statues, which had

survived intact for over 1,500 years, were idolatrous and unIslamic.

During the destruction, Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal lamented

that, "this work of destruction is not as easy as people might think. You can't

knock down the statues by shelling as both are carved into a cliff; they are

firmly attached to the mountain. "The two largest Buddhas faced dynamite and

tank barrages and were demolished after almost a month of intensive

bombardment. According to UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, a meeting

of ambassadors from the 54 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic

Conference (OIC) was conducted. All OIC states - including Pakistan, Saudi

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries that officially recognised

the Taliban government - joined the protest to spare the monuments (CNN). A

statement issued by the ministry of religious affairs of Taliban regime

justified the destruction as being in accordance with Islamic law [AFP News].

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would later condemn the destruction

as "savage." The following photographs clearly depict the past and present

regarding this world heritage site. The 11th March 2006, the fifth anniversary

of the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha, reminds us that the forces of

destruction are quite active and alive. The cultural genocide is unabated. The

civilized world is yet to civilize the whole humanity. The mission to bring

sanity all around is unaccomplished. We pray, on this day, to the Almighty to

lead us all from darkness to light and give us courage and enough strength to

espouse the cause of truth and justice. THE GRANDEUR OF BHAMIAN BUDDHA Before

Destruction THE GRANDEUR OF BHAMIAN BUDDHA Close up DESTRUCTION HEROICS BUDDHA

DESTRUCTION Taking Pride THE HERITAGE LOST

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