Reacting to Iran’s critic point, Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh, has said Iranians are “not Muslims”.
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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.
Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran released a statement on his official website today, Monday, September 5. More than 2,400 people were killed, including 464 Iranians, making it the deadliest incident in the history of the haj.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency on Wednesday quoted Rouhani who lambasted Saudi Arabia’s response to the stampede in Mina and said pilgrims lost their lives because Saudi authorities acted just as “bystanders rather than rescuing” those caught in the disaster.
But for Middle Eastern regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia, the run-up to this year’s pilgrimage, which begins this week, took on a different tone.
Corrections & Amplifications: Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Nemer al-Nemer sparked protests at Saudi diplomatic compounds in Iran.
It is the most recent sign of soaring tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, which have historically vied to lead competing branches of Islam and more recently are on opposing sides of bloody conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
The Saudi authorities, for their part, say such practices, which include gatherings of Shia worshipers during the Hajj ritual, “hinder the movement of other pilgrims”.
It is one of several safety measures authorities say they have implemented after, according to data from foreign officials, close to 2,300 pilgrims died during the hajj stoning ritual previous year.
The Saudi king holds the title of “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”, and his oversight of the hajj and administration of Medina-revered as the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad and the second-holiest city in Islam after Mecca-are sources of great prestige across the Muslim world.
Saudi Arabia claims that almost 770 people were killed in the incident; however, Iran, which had the greatest number of deaths among foreign nationals, has put the death toll at about 4,700.
Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh described the angry remarks from Iran’s leader as “not surprising”.
“Particularly when it comes to the pilgrimage and religious discourse, then it has quite damaging effects on sectarian relations around the world”.
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This year pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend the hajj, which officially starts on September 11, after talks between the two nations on arrangements broke down in May.
