Besides removing supposed temptations to idolatry, Islamic supremacists want to ruin the artifacts of non-Muslim civilizations because doing so testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur’an suggests that ruins are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth:

Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth. (Qur’an 3:137)

This is one of the foundations of the Islamic idea that pre-Islamic civilizations, and non-Islamic civilizations, are all jahiliyya — the society of unbelievers, which is worthless trash. Obviously this cuts against the idea of having some historical memory and respect for where we have been as an aid to understanding and guiding where we may be going. The non-Muslim past is to be regarded solely with disgust and contempt, and the memory of it erased.

This impulse is yet another element of the alliance of Muslims such as those of Hamas-linked CAIR and Leftists. Both demonize all disagreement and dissent from their positions, and do not debate their opponents, but instead defame them as morally evil. And in this call from Nihad Awad, Hamas-linked CAIR joins the Left in wanting all traces that anyone ever thought differently from the acceptable current orthodoxy be forever effaced.

“Council on American-Islamic Relations: Tear Down Every Confederate Memorial,” by Eric Owens, Daily Caller, August 15, 2017: