What is left of the Hijaz Railway? Probably some pictures, lots of documents and maybe the memories of some travelers who were fortunate to see it before it was demolished a few days ago.
The railway might not be among the oldest things we have in the Kingdom, but it was a site that people in Madinah and from outside the city enjoyed visiting when they had the chance. Most people who visited the site felt as if they had seen a part of our country’s history. Whatever they may have felt or whatever their reasons, it is all now in the past. Some of our diligent but uninformed and unaware officials decided to destroy the railway.
Of course, they had the most excellent reasons for doing so: It was dangerous and it was falling apart because of the recent floods. It is hardly surprising that it was falling apart. How many decades had it been since any maintenance had been done on it? Had anyone thought of restoring it as part of our heritage, as part of the history of the Arabian Peninsula or even as something that was vaguely involved with the legendary Lawrence of Arabia?
It is always easy for us in the Kingdom to get rid of things, particularly old ones. The bulldozers simply went right in and did a job and after all, that was much easier than restoring and maintaining a historic site. A Saudi participant in an online discussion commented on the silliness of those who always stand up for historical sites; he said, the railway was “old and we’ll build a new one.” For those who do not care and are that shallow, that is quite easy. But for the others — the residents of Madinah, for example — who often visited the site and were saddened to see something destroyed which they were familiar with, something destroyed that was a part of their history, it is not quite so easy.
But to be less emotional about the whole thing (though at this point emotions are not such a bad thing), let us examine what seems to have happened. The municipality in Madinah felt that the railway was endangering public safety. The officials made a decision and carried it out very quickly — which seldom happens in the Kingdom when there are really pressing and urgent matters to be dealt with. In any case, the officials evidently did not bother to consult anyone in the Department of Monuments that is supposed to preserve, and be in charge of, the Kingdom’s historical sites. This failure may be part of the ongoing problem of nonexistent specialization, the overlapping responsibilities of different departments and conflicting decisions. Such things usually go unnoticed or are passed off as part of the modern day bureaucratic mess. The municipality official has said that the municipality was very careful when destroying the bridge and that it had used scientific methods in order keep the stones intact and store them in a safe place.
I could not help wondering why, if we have scientific methods for preserving individual stones, we could not preserve the entire relic of which the stones were part instead of leaving it to decay, deteriorate and fall down over the years?
The thing that comes to mind is that if we are trying desperately to establish tourism in the Kingdom, what do we expect the tourists to want to see? Our historical sites are vanishing at great speed — whether through carelessness, ignorance or design. Will tourists come here to see new buildings, wide expressways, shopping malls and international fast food outlets? Those things are available everywhere. Tourists want to see and learn about what is unique — for example, the Hijaz Railway, old Jeddah, the ancient towns of the Nejd and Madain Saleh. Tourists are normally interested in what gives a place its character and its traditions. People do not go to Egypt to see airports and new buildings; they want to see the ancient monuments, the Islamic treasures and the timeless life along the Nile.
If we really want to be numbered among the advanced countries, then the first step is to define who we are and establish an identity for ourselves. The Shoura Council member Muhammad Al-Zulfa said, “Advanced countries give importance to antiquities, especially those which have historical significance.”
Certainly, nations do not spring into being out of nothing; they have roots and they build on those roots. One reader said that our traditions and civilization are beyond buildings of concrete and stone — and that is surely true.
At the same time, if we lose what remains of those early buildings along with the knowledge of who built them and how and why, we lose what remains of a culture and a civilization as well as our understanding of them and, more important, of ourselves.
The Holy Qur’an has many verses that instruct believers in the advantages of reflecting on the past and of life in earlier times. If we were completely familiar with our tradition and our religion, we would think much more about preserving and learning from history instead of getting rid of and ignoring it.
