The radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group has destroyed shrines(tomb) belonging to two prophets, highly revered by both Christians and Muslims, in the northern city of Mosul, al-Sumaria News reported Thursday.
“ISIS militants have destroyed the Prophet Younis (Jonah) shrine east of Mosul city after they seized control of the mosque(where Jonah had been buried) completely,” a security source, who kept his identity anonymous, told the Iraq-based al-Sumaria News.
“The militants closed all of the tombs doors and prevented worshipers from entering to pray,” the source said.
A witness who did not wish to give his name said that ISIS militants “first stopped people from praying in it, they fixed explosive charges around and inside it and then blew it up in front of a large gathering of people,” according to Agence France-Presse.
An endowment official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and Mosul residents told AFP it took the Sunni extremists an hour to rig the shrine with explosives.
The endowment official said the Islamic State group that overran large swathes of northern and western Iraq last month have now destroyed or damaged 30 shrines, as well as 15 husseiniyas and mosques in and around Mosul.
“But the worst destruction was of Prophet Jonah, which has been turned to dust,” he said, according to AFP.
In the Quran and the Bible, Prophet Jonah is famous for being swallowed by a fish. Dating back to the 8th century BC, Jonah is believed to be buried in Mosul and his tomb also a mosque is considered to be one of the few historic mosques found on the eastern side of the city.
Meanwhile, a local Mosul official, Zuhair al-Chalabi, on Thursday said that Prophet Daniel’s tomb was also destroyed. While Daniel is considered to be a prophet by Muslims, he is not mentioned in the Quran but mentioned in the Bible.
Tomb destruction
“ISIS implanted explosives around Prophet Daniel’s tomb in Mosul and blasted it, leading to its destruction,” he told Al-Sumaria News.
”Mosul is living in an extremely hard and horrible situation,” Chalabi warned.
Female gential mutilation
Other media sources were qouted as saying ISIS has ordered all girls and women between the ages of 11 and 46 in and around Iraq's northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation, the United Nations said on Thursday.
“It is a fatwa (or religious edict) of ISIS, we learnt this this morning,” said Jacqueline Badcock, the number two U.N. official in Iraq. The “fatwa” would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, Badcock told reporters in Geneva by videolink from Arbil.
Iraqi Shops to veil mannequins
Also shopkeepers in the Iraqi city of Mosul strict instructions to cover the faces of mannequins, months after seizing control of the country’s second largest city.
According to The Associated Press, Mosul shop owners said they had been told to cover the faces of both male and female mannequins, apparently in line with strict interpretations of Shariah law that forbid statues or artwork depicting the human form.
Mosul shop owners said they had been told to cover the faces of both male and female mannequins, apparently in line with strict interpretations of Shariah law that forbid statues or artwork depicting the human form.
ISIS, which earlier this month declared an Islamic State spanning parts of Iraq and Syria under its so-called “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, seized control of Mosul on June 10 as part of its campaign against the Baghdad government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The militant group has imposed other restrictions in the city, the home to some of the most ancient Christian communities in the region, most recently ordering Christians to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. Many from the ancient community have fled as a result.
