Saudi Arabia Heritage SitesSaudi Arabia Heritage SitesSaudi Wahhabism is hostile to any reverence given to historical or religious places of significance for fear that it may give rise to 'shirk' (idolatry), and the most significant historic Muslim sites (in Mecca and Medina) are located in the western Saudi region of the Hejaz. As a consequence, under Saudi rule an estimated 95% of Mecca's historic buildings, most over a thousand years old, have been demolished for religious reasons. Critics claim that over the last 50 years, 300 historic sites linked to Muhammad, his family or companions have been lost, leaving fewer than 20 structures remaining in Mecca that date back to the time of Muhammad. Demolished structures include the mosque originally built by Muhammad's daughter Fatima, and other mosques founded by Abu Bakr (Muhammad's father-in-law and the first caliph), Umar (the second caliph), Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law and the fourth caliph), and Salman al-Farsi (another of Muhammad's companions). Seven cultural sites in Saudi Arabia are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
There are six elements inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list:
In 2017, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman promised to return Saudi Arabia to the "moderate Islam" of the era before the 1979 Iranian revolution. A new centre, the King Salman Complex for the Prophet's Hadith, was established that year to monitor interpretations of the Prophet Mohammed's hadiths to prevent them being used to justifying terrorism. In March 2018, the Crown Prince met the Archbishop of Canterbury during a visit to the UK, pledging to promote interfaith dialogue. In Riyadh the following month King Salman met the head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In July 2019, UNESCO signed a letter with the Saudi Minister of Culture in which Saudi Arabia contributed US$25 million to UNESCO for the preservation of heritage. Saudi Arabia Overview Saudi Arabia Motto: لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰه، مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُوْلُ ٱللَّٰه Lā ilāha illa llāh, Muḥammadun rasūlu llāh "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God" (shahada) Saudi Arabia Anthem: ٱلنَّشِيْد ٱلْوَطَنِي ٱلسُّعُوْدِي "an-Našīd al-Waṭanīy as-Saʿūdī" "Chant of the Saudi Nation" Saudi Arabia Capital and Largest City: Riyadh 24°39′N 46°46′E Saudi Arabia Official Languages: Arabic Ethnic Groups: 90% Arab 10% Afro-Arab Saudi Arabia Religion: 93.0% Islam 85–90% Sunni (official) 10–15% Shia 4.4% Christianity 1.1% Hinduism 0.7% unaffiliated 0.3% Buddhism Saudi Arabia Demonym(s): Saudi Saudi Arabian Saudi Arabia Government: Unitary Islamic Absolute Monarchy King Salman Saudi Arabia Crown Prince and Prime Minister: Mohammed bin Salman Saudi Arabia Establishment: Emirate of Diriyah 1727 Emirate of Nejd 1824 Emirate of Riyadh 13 January 1902 Saudi Arabia Unification: 23 September 1932 Saudi Arabia Admitted to the United Nations: 24 October 1945 Saudi Arabia Current Constitution: 31 January 1992 Saudi Arabia Area: Total 2,149,690 km2 (830,000 sq mi) Saudi Arabia Water (%): 0.0 Saudi Arabia Population: Neutral increase 32,175,224 Saudi Arabia Currency: Saudi riyal (SR)(SAR) Saudi Arabia Time Zone: UTC+3 (AST) Saudi Arabia Date Format: dd/mm/yyyy (AH) Saudi Arabia Driving Side: right Calling Code: +966 Saudi Arabia ISO 3166 code: SA Saudi Arabia Internet TLD: .sa السعودية. | |||||
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