Director Roland Emmerich Won't Use Kaaba Site In His Movie '2012'

Film director Roland Emmerich decided against using Kaaba site in his disaster movie 2012. In the movie that has "we were warned" as a theme line, famous world landmarks get destroyed, among them entire cities of Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, and Washington D.C., the White House, and the Vatican. All along natural disasters from earthquakes to giant waves are also prevalent. Emmerich had the holy Muslim site of Kaaba destroyed in the script too, but decided against destroying Kaaba in the movie.

Kaaba is a cuboidal building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. Kaaba is also the site of pilgrimage that every Muslim should perform at least one in their lifetime. Thus, destroying Kaaba in the movie, even if just as part of the script, could be a very sensitive issue for Muslim religious groups.

Some publications ran articles alleging Emmerich decided against using Kaaba in his movie out of fear of fatwa (an element of jihad).

It is interesting that Emmerich was still fine with annihilating Vatican, the world center of Christianity, and the statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro.

Emmerich is behind movies like Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and Independence Day.