The 'Day of Sorrow' marks the razing of Al-Baqi' cemetary in Medina, by Saudi King Abdulaziz ibn Saud. Two demolotions have been carried out over the years, 1806 and 1926.
First demolotion:
At the beginning of the House of Saud's nineteenth century (1806) control over Mecca and Medina, they demolished many of the religious buildings, including tombs and mosques, whether inside or outside the Baqi, in accordance with their doctrine. These were razed to the ground and plundered for their decorations and goods.
After taking control of the holy cities, the Saudis tried to create obstacles to prevent non-Wahhabi Muslims from performing the Hajj (annual pilgrimage). In the next few years, they gradually increased the Hajj duty. In 1805, a year before the destruction, Iraqi and Iranian Muslims were not allowed to perform Hajj. Syrians and Egyptians were refused permission to perform Hajj in 1806 and 1807. Maghrebi Muslims were not prevented from performing the hajj.
The Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II ordered the governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, to retake the territories controlled by the Wahhabi rebels, starting the Ottoman–Wahhabi War. Muhammad Ali Pasha's son, Ibrahim Pasha, defeated the rebel clans at the Battle of Diriyah in 1818. By the order of Sultan Mahmud II the Ottomans built and renovated buildings, domes, and mosques in 'splendid aesthetic style' from 1848 to 1860.
Sir Richard Francis Burton, who visited Medina in 1853 disguised as an Afghan Muslim named 'Abdullah', said that there were fifty-five mosques and shrines after the reconstruction by the Ottomans. Another English adventurer visiting Medina in 1877–1878 described the city as a 'small beautiful city resembling Istanbul'. He mentions its 'white walls, golden slender minarets and green fields'. Also, Ibrahim Rifat Pasha, an Egyptian official travelling between 1901 and 1908, described sixteen domes marking individual and/or a collection of graves.
Second demolotion:
The House of Saud regained control of Hijaz in 1924 or 1925. The following year Ibn Saud granted permission to destroy the site with religious authorization provided by Qadi Abd Allah ibn Bulayhid; the demolition began on 21 April 1926 by the Ikhwan ('Brothers'), a Wahhabi religious militia. The demolition included destroying even the simplest gravestones. British convert Eldon Rutter compared the demolition to an earthquake:
'All over the cemetery nothing was to be seen but little indefinite mounds of earth and stones, pieces of timber, iron bars, blocks of stone, and a broken rubble of cement and bricks, strewn about.'
The workers destroying the buildings received 1,000 Majidi Riyal, the unit of currency at the time.