The Grand Mosque in 1979
A view of the Grand Mosque complex during the 1979 siege
Tuesday, 19 June 2012 - 29
Rajab 1433 H
MAKKAH — No one can open the file on Juhaiman bin Saif Al-Otaibi and
his group without mentioning the late Crown Prince Naif who was the
interior minister at the time. When the group occupied the Grand Mosque,
Prince Naif faced the challenge of liberating it. He insisted on
overseeing the operation by himself without any outside help.When
Juhaiman and
Muhammad
Al-Qahtani, who would later become his brother-in-law, joined hands,
their collective ideologies began spreading poisonous ideas in small
mosques in Madinah. In 1965, Juhaiman established a group called
Al-Jamma’a Al-Salafiyya Al-Muhtasiba, which was an extension of the
Ikhwan ideology. Soon Juhaiman took control of the group and diverted
its tasks to political activities. As the group expanded, he recruited
youth from all over the Kingdom. Prince Naif interfered at the time and
called for the group’s activities to be supervised. As a result,
Juhaiman isolated the group and himself from society.The Al-Watan
newspaper carried the details of the operation in a report on Monday.In
late 1978, Al-Qahtani told Juhaiman that he had had a dream in which he
was the Mahdi, or redeemer of Islam, and said he wanted to liberate the
Arabian peninsula and the entire world from wrongdoing, injustice and
tyranny.
On Nov. 20, 1979, 270 people from Juhaiman’s group entered the Grand Mosque under the pretext of attending the
Fajr
prayer. They were carrying several caskets with them and mosque guards
were told they contained bodies. In reality, the caskets contained
dozens of weapons that the group would later use to take over the
mosque. During the
Fajr
prayer, the group chained all of the mosque’s doors and placed two
guards at each door. Several other militants stormed the microphone room
and took control of the mosque’s loudspeakers.
Sheikh Muhammad
Al-Subayel, who was leading the prayer, said as soon as the prayer
concluded, the group announced the appearance of the Mahdi. They said he
had escaped from his enemies and was taking refuge inside the Grand
Mosque. Juhaiman then introduced Al-Qahtani as “the awaited Mahdi and
the redeemer of Islam.”Juhaiman and his group then pledged allegiance to
Al-Qahtani who asked the people to also do so while members of the
group began firing gunshots in the air. The mosque’s guards, who are not
armed, tried to resist them but were shot and killed. A group of
worshippers managed to escape from the Grand Mosque but others who tried
to reason with the group and told them they were wrong were also shot
dead.Prince Naif immediately ordered the Grand Mosque to be surrounded
and told officers not to engage in any contact with the group until the
authorities had a clearer picture. Security forces began moving inside
the mosque complex and some of them managed to position themselves
inside and waited for orders to attack. At the same time, Juhaiman’s
group was trying to force all worshippers inside to pledge allegiance to
the awaited Mahdi.The then King Khaled met with
Muslim
scholars and briefed them on the situation. Scholars said a surrender
should be negotiated with the group and if they refused, then they
should be forcibly evacted even if it meant killing them.Meanwhile,
Prince Naif had arrived in
Makkah
to personally supervise the operation and plans to liberate the Grand
Mosque.People and residents around the Grand Mosque complex were asked
to clear the area due the guns being fired by Juhaiman’s group from the
mosque’s minarets. Saudi security forces managed to identify their
positions and the type of weapons they were using. Groups from the
National Guard were brought in along with the armed forces in
preparation to storm the besieged mosque. King Khaled’s directives at
that time were to give the group time to surrender and to ensure the
safety of the innocent people stuck inside the mosque. Saudi forces used
microphones to ask the group to surrender and release the hostages but
they refused.There were scattered clashes with the group and Saudi
snipers were brought in to take out the snipers inside the mosque. The
Saudi troops already positioned inside also began engaging Juhaiman’s
group and forced them to release the hostages. Saudi troops forced the
group to withdraw to the tunnels in the lower level beneath the mosque
and they then took control of the roads leading to the tunnels.Juhaiman
and his group barricaded themselves in several rooms underneath the
Grand Mosque.
After five days of being surrounded, dozens of members in the group
surrendered to the authorities. After the news of Al-Qahtani’s death
began to spread, many other members laid down their arms and
surrendered.On Dec. 5, 1979, the Saudi Army and the National Guard laid
out a plan to put an end to the siege. They started a final push and
managed to isolate the group far away from the Ka’aba. Saudi forces then
cut electricity and water to them. Some immediately surrendered while
other continued to fight.The news about French, Jordanian and Egyptian
forces participating in the operation to liberate the Grand Mosque was
not true. At the time,
Saudi Arabia
received many offers of help but they were all declined. King Khaled
addressed the country’s security forces and the National Guard and
thanked them for liberating the Grand Mosque.On Jan. 10, 1980, 63 people
who carried out the attacks were executed in several different cities
while Juhaiman was executed in Makkah. The nationalities of the people
that were executed are as follows: 34 Saudis, 9 Egyptians, 3 Kuwaitis, 6
Yemenis, 1 Sudanese and 1 Iraqi. Prince Naif said at a press conference
after the incident that 19 people went to jail and 23 women and
children were sent to juvenile centers.Prince Naif also announced that
12 Saudi officers and 115 soldiers died during the operation. In
addition, 402 officers and 49 soldiers were injured. Prince Naif said 75
members of Juhaiman’s group were killed during the siege. Fifteen
bodies belonging to the group were later found in the tunnels underneath
the mosque.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index...20120619127439
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