Earlier this month, millions of Cambodians mourned their former King Norodom Sihamouk at his funeral procession in Phnom Penh. The eighty year old monarch, crowned seventy years ago, was revered and respected by all. Sihanouk had won independence for his country from the French and was later imprisoned by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated the throne in 2004 in favour of his son. The unspeakable suffering which had been inflicted upon the people of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country from 1975 to 1979, is still even now being uncovered. It is estimated that during that period around one and a half million of its citizens were put to death – around a quarter of the population of the South Asian country – while countless more died of starvation or were displaced from their homes. Now a constitutional monarchy, Cambodia is still recovering from the horrors of those years. Its people, though, can look back into their nation's history when the Khmer empire flourished as a centre of learning and refinement. In contrast to the brutality of the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge regime, the city of Angkor is a testimony to that once great civilisation, which lasted from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries, and to the beauty and the reverence for the sacred which inspired it. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Angkor is a breathtaking place and worthy of the attention of anyone who rejoices in this world's beauty. Angkor is so remarkable because of its sheer size and because of the faith which inspired it. In all, there are almost one thousand temples and monuments on the site. Some of them are now no more than piles of rubble, but the most famous of them all, the temple of Angkor Wat, is massive. The side walls of the temple are nearly half a mile long, and it is surrounded by an enormous moat, 173 metres wide and 4 miles long, symbolising the oceans which lay beyond the homes of the gods. And many gods there were, according to Hindu belief. Angkor Wat is an attempt in stone to portray the whole world of gods and goddesses. Adorned and ornamented with statues and bas-reliefs, the massive structure tells the story of the lives of those gods. The Khmer emperor Suryvarman II, who built the complex, also had scenes from his own life interspersed with those of the deities. The temple would, after all, become his own resting place. Angkor Wat is so important to the national consciousness of Cambodia's people, taking their minds away from recent horrors to ancient glories, that it is a part of the national flag. The city of Angkor is spread over an area of around 40 miles and the complex attracts around one million visitors every year. The word “angkor" is derived from a word in classical Sanskrit which means “holy city," and this is exactly what it is. At one time a Hindu shrine, then a Buddhist one, when the state religion changed to Mahayana Buddhism, the complex reverted once more to Hinduism, before Buddhism finally took root in the land in the 14th century and the city was adorned with statues, large and small, of the Buddha. Built throughout the period of the Khmer Empire, from 802 AD to 1431 AD, when the empire collapsed after a Thai invasion, this city of temples shows the great importance the people attached to worship. Many of the buildings are some of the most sublime examples of architecture to be found anywhere in the world. Walking around them or viewing them from afar, the temples lift the mind of man towards the sacred, and to man's quest throughout the centuries for communion with the divine. As with many other magnificent and remarkable structures, the whole city of Angkor Wat fell into ruin and was deserted for centuries, except for the great temple of Angkor Wat which remained a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Whether it was the Thai invasion which caused the residents to flee, or a sudden shortage of water, they abandoned the place entirely, leaving it to the elements. The temples now stand amidst rice fields, harkening back to ancient glories and to an age when men sought refuge in the divine. If the stones could speak, they would speak of prayer and anguish, joy and pain. They would have stories not only from an ancient empire, but of a more recent nightmare. Muslims read in the Holy Qur'an: “...there is nothing whatever like unto Him, He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing. To Him belong the keys of the Heavens and the earth. He enlarges and restricts provisions to whom He wills. Surely He has knowledge of everything." (42:11-12) All things remind them that Allah is in control of all things. Neither temples, statues, nor monuments are needed to remind them of the divine. The exotic and remote temples at Angkor speak to the world of the sacred and of the beauty which comes from it. From the ruins of empire, people rise once more to re-build their lives and make the future a better place for their children. As the people of Cambodia remember with love and affection their former king, let us all never forget the place that the sacred has played in the history of mankind and of all the places where men and women have offered prayer. Is it not true that when we do forget, our own cities and the monuments we build to our own glory, come tumbling down, devoid of meaning? British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, teaches at Al-Azhar University and is the author of nine books about Islam. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com, join him on Facebook at Idris Tawfiq Page and listen to his Radio Show, “A Life in Question," on Sundays at 11pm on Radio Cairo 95.4 FM.
