Oh, but it hasn't been. Some other posters have pictures of the Mosque in the early 1900s, it's basically abandoned.
You can see weeds growing from between the stones, because nobody ever stepped on them.
You can find weeds growing between the cracks in the pavement of streets, where heavy trucks run daily. In a hot land, weeds grow very fast. What you refer to is an attribute of poverty and neglect, in a country being ruled by a failing empire (the Ottoman). But, just what is your point? Do you really want to turn this into a religious War? Do you like what happened in other centuries where people set out to stamp out the symbols of other people's faith? I do not.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site