Tomb of Umayyad Caliph exhumed by militias in Syria

Published on: May 29, 2020 12:35 PM

Militias fighting alongside the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al-Assad destroyed and desecrated the grave of the eighth Umayyad Caliph Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz yesterday, located in the north-west province of Idlib.

Video footage of the destruction emerged on social media yesterday, showing the graves of the Caliph, his wife and his servant damaged and with the contents exhumed and disappeared. The site in which the graves are housed, located in the village of Deir Al-Sharqi in the area of Maarat Al-Nu’man, is seen to be burnt following its capture by the regime and militia forces in February this year.

Another video showed the desecrated grave opened and emptied. No information was available about the location to which the buried remains were moved.

In February, regime forces set fire to the area around the shrine when they took control of the town, causing material damage.

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was the eighth Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. His great grandfather was the great Umar ibn al-Khattab (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu), the second Muslim caliph and a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam).

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was a great reformer and considered a mujaddid (Islamic reviver). According to many scholars and historians, he was the first of the revivalists that appear every one hundred years according to the Messenger (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam).

Syria’s eight-year civil war was born out of peace protests by Syrian civilians for reforms and changes in the Syrian regime. The latter’s response was one of violence and brutality, which forced the people to take up arms in defence.