Sphinx Destruction Urged By Egyptian Salafi With Taliban Connections
The Sphinx destruction as well as the Giza pyramids are being called for by an Egyptian Salafist. Murgan Salem al-Gohary is a Muslim jihadist leader with connections to the Taliban who went on TV over the weekend to announce jihad on one of the seven wonders of the world.
“The idols and statues that fill Egypt must be destroyed. Muslims are tasked with applying the teachings of Islam and removing these idols, just like we did in Afghanistan when we smashed the Buddha statues,” Gohary said in a Saturday night television interview, according to Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm. “God ordered Prophet Mohamed to destroy idols. When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.”
According to The Blaze, “Gohary, 50, is well-known in Egypt for his advocacy of violence. He was sentenced twice under former President Hosni Mubarak, one of the two sentences being life imprisonment. He subsequently fled Egypt to Afghanistan, where he was badly injured in the American invasion. In 2007, he traveled from Pakistan to Syria, which then handed him over to Egypt. After Mubarak’s fall in early 2011, he was released from prison by a judicial ruling.”
The Egyptian Interior Ministry believes these threats are to be taken very seriously. According to al-Masry al-Youm, Egyptian officials have “taken the necessary precautions to prevent violations of the law or any abuses of anything in the public domain or archaeological treasures including the pyramids.”
The newspaper al-Masry al-Youm also spoke with a security official but only under the condition of anonymity. This unnamed source claims that the police and security authorities in Giza had “taken the necessary precautions to deal with any aggression” against the pyramids and Sphinx destruction. “They are a source of national income and they bring tourists to Egypt.”
The Sphinx destruction would bring an end to an iconic marvel that has gathered visitors from all corners of the globe. In previous months, the Egyptian and Arab press have been reporting calls to jihad by Egyptian Salafists and foreign Islamists to demolish the pyramids and bring about the Sphinx destruction. Hopefully, we won’t wake up one morning to hear news of the Sphinx destruction by Islamic terrorists.
