Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat has threatened to besiege the Saudi Arabian embassy in Dhaka over a proposal to destroy the tomb of Prophet Muhammad.
The Sunni group sought an explanation from Saudi authorities within 48 hours, without which it said it will lay siege to their embassy on Sunday.
Central Member Secretary Mosaheb Uddin Bakhteyar announced the plans in a press brief at Chittagong Press Club on Wednesday.
The tomb of Prophet Muhammad, one of Islam’s most revered holy sites, could be destroyed and his body removed to an anonymous grave, UK newspaper The Independent reported on Tuesday.
The controversial proposals, the report said, were circulated among the supervisors of Medina’s al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque as part of a consultation document by a leading Saudi academic.
His earthly remains are housed under the mosque’s Green Dome.
The 61-page document also calls for the removal of the Prophet’s remains to an anonymous grave at nearby al-Baqi cemetery.
The plans were brought to light by another Saudi academic who exposed and criticised the destruction of holy places and artefacts in Mecca, writes The Independent.
The formal custodian of the mosque is Saudi Arabia’s ageing monarch King Abdullah.
Hardline Saudi clerics have long preached that the country’s strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam prohibits the worship of any object or “saint”, a practice considered “shirq” or idolatrous.
Analysts predict the proposal may spark discord across the Muslim world.
bdnews24.com contacted the Saudi embassy on Tuesday but the officials there declined comment on the issue.
Source: Bd news24
