A highly valued Islam shrine was blown up by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) earlier in July. It is reported that the shrine was believed by many to be the burial place of the Hebrew prophet Jonah who is also known to Muslims as Yunus as written in the Koran.
An eyewitness told the AFP that the shrine was blown “to dust” by the militant group. The witness who refused to be identified explained that members of the ISIS had warned residents to stay at least 500 meters away from the shrine and rigged it for over an hour before finally blowing it up.
There were residents praying within the building when the militants arrived. They were forced to leave the area before explosives were installed. He added that there have been very similar incidents like this in the past but the shrine of Jonah or Yunus had suffered the worst damage.
Then why was it that the place of worship was completely destroyed by the Jihadists? The shrine, according to The Guardian, was built over an archeological site that dates back over eight hundred years before the birth of Christ. After some renovations led by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the shrine became a very popular site for religious pilgrims and tourists.
However, Jihadists of the ISIS stated that the shrine had become a place of apostasy rather than worship. Experts took this as the Jihadists’ attempts to wipe out any kind of traces of their enemies (Christians and Jews) from their territories.
