Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message published on Monday, criticized Saudi Arabia over how it runs the hajj after a crush a year ago killed hundreds of pilgrims.
Advertisement
“We must understand they are not Muslims, for they are the descendants of Majuws, and their enmity toward Muslims, especially the Sunnis, is very old”, the Saudi cleric said.
‘. They (world Muslims) must think of a fundamental solution for the management of the Two Holy Mosques and the issue of Hajj, ‘ said the Leader while ctriticizing the Saudi rulers for reducing the Hajj “to a mere pilgrimage-tourism trip”.
Saudi emergency personnel stand near bodies of Hajj pilgrims at the site where more than 2,000 people were killed and hundreds wounded in a stampede in Mina, near the city of Mecca, at the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia on September 24, 2015.
Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani joined in the row adding: “They (Saudi Arabia) neither apologised nor did they pay any indemnities”.
One year later, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the families of those who lost their lives and called for an global investigation into the stampede. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti dismissed Iran’s ire by arguing that Iranians are “not Muslims”.
The Saudis called the accusations unfounded and the kingdom’s top cleric hit back on Tuesday, saying Iranians “are not Muslims”.
“They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam”, Khamenei said, listing Saudi Arabia’s involvement in conflicts in areas including Iraq, Yemen and Syria on the side of forces Iran opposes.
“Magi” was a reference to the Zoroastrian religion that was prevalent in Iran before Islam, and is sometimes used as an insult against Iranians.
Saudi authorities normally seek to avoid public discussion of whether Shi’ites are Muslims, but implicitly recognize them as such by welcoming them to the hajj, and by accepting Iranian visits to the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Tehran claimed that 464 of those killed were Iranian, while blaming the tragedy on Saudi mismanagement.
Rouhani’s comments come just days after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, criticized the Saudis as unbelievers and questioned the country’s role in administering the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Mina/Mumbai: The number of Hajj pilgrims coming from outside Saudi Arabia, since the beginning of pilgrims’ arrival until the end of Wednesday, accounted to 1,323,520 pilgrims, according to official statistics issued by Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Passports.
Advertisement
Saudi Arabia announced an investigation, but no results have ever been revealed.
