Hadi Fornaji Libya Herald TRIPOLI — The tomb of a 15th century Sufi scholar in the Libyan city of Zlitan was destroyed in the latest attack in the region on sites branded idolatrous by hardline conservatives, witnesses said Saturday. The hardliners also bulldozed part of a revered mausoleum in Tripoli early Saturday. They used an excavator to demolish part of the mausoleum of Al-Shaab Al-Dahman, close to the center of the Libyan capital. It was the second such assault on a Muslim pilgrimage site in as many days. Attackers using bombs and a bulldozer reduced the last resting place of revered scholar Sidi Abdul-Salam Al-Asmar Al-Fituri to rubble on Friday and also set fire to a historic library in a nearby mosque, ruining thousands of books. The violence in Zlitan, some 160 km east of Tripoli, started earlier in the week and according to government officials has left at least three people dead and eight more injured. The conflict is between Zlitanis and, reportedly, members of the small Awlad Al-Sheikh tribe who live in the area. The attack on the shrine — the most important building in Zlitan and part of the town's Asmariya Islamic University complex — may be entirely separate to the skirmishes. The building appears to have been systematically targeted. It was subject to continued mortar fire and took three direct hits last night. The mosque's dome collapsed and a minaret was pockmarked with holes. The attackers appeared to have removed the last signs of the shrine with a bulldozer, which was abandoned nearby. A senior Sufi figure, who asked not to be named, told the Libya Herald that the destruction of the tomb had been deliberate and was not part of the local clashes. He appeared to blame Islamist conservatives. “The fighting was used by those who have been wanting to do this for some time." In early March, several hundred hardliners arrived in Zlitan from all over the country planning to destroy the tomb. There was then a standoff when local Zlitani revolutionaries supported by those from neighboring Misrata rushed to the shrine's defense, threatening to shoot the conservatives unless they withdrew. Negotiations then followed in which it was agreed that the issue of the shrine be referred to the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ghariani. There have been a number of attacks or attempted attacks on Sufi shrines throughout the country. In October last year, the mosque at Sidi Masri was vandalized and the remains of two Muslim scholars, Abdul-Rahman Al-Masri and Salem Abu Seif, removed. The same month, the cemetery in Gargaresh was ransacked while, in November, Tripoli's Sidi Nasr mosque was similarly desecrated. At the beginning of last month, a bomb exploded at the Sahaba Mosque in Derna destroying the tomb housing the grave of Zuhayr Ibn Qais Al-Balawi, a seventh century Arab commander who helped bring Islam to the region. Al-Fituri, who died 1575 CE, was both an ascetic and a warrior. He took up arms when Zlitan was under attack.
