On Saturday, more than 2 million worshippers are expected to begin the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, an act of faith required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life.
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Construction projects to expand capacity at Mecca’s Grand Mosque and other Islamic holy sites will be completed in about three years, enabling Saudi Arabia to accommodate more pilgrims, Mecca’s mayor told Reuters on Friday.
A source reportedly said it would only be from Manila that the Indonesians would again use their Indonesian passports and return to their country. “They are Sunnis and are our brothers”, protester Habibullah Abulfazli said.
The Saudi officials turned from being merely unsuccessful whose sins may be repented into real criminals who arrogantly refuse to apologize to the victims’ families to the extent that King Salman insolently congratulated the crown prince for his “success” in administering the pilgrimage season in 2015 despite Mina tragedy.
The two countries do not have diplomatic relations and are at loggerheads over a series of regional issues including the conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
In their recent criticisms, Iranian officials have focused on the September 24, 2015, stampede and crush of pilgrims at last year’s hajj that killed at least 2,426 people, according to an Associated Press count.
In 1987, Iranian pilgrims on hajj battled Saudi riot police in clashes that killed at least 402 people.
Although Riyadh maintained the stampede death toll was 769, data from foreign officials in more than 30 countries gave a tally nearly three times higher – at least 2,297.
Saudi Arabia says the figure was only 769, but has refused to release the details of its investigation.
The political fallout between the two rivals has meant that Iranian pilgrims won’t take part in this year’s hajj.
The mufti sparked controversy this week when he was quoted as saying Iran’s Shiite leaders “are not Muslims”.
“The authorities did a great deal to control the situation then – and allowed the hajj to carry on”, one Saudi citizen told MEE on condition of anonymity.
He said the “organizational measures” would only affect Hezbollah members and not their families or the group’s supporters.
Despite the safety and security measures which Saudi Arabia says it has taken, Iranian authorities have questioned the kingdom’s custodianship of Islam’s holiest places.
Almost two million people from around 150 countries are expected to take part in the five-day pilgrimage, which starts on Saturday and is one of the five pillars of Islam, recreating the journey taken by the Prophet Mohammed in AD632. At least 190 pilgrims from Egypt were killed.
Saudi Arabia announced plans in June to increase the number of umrah pilgrims coming from overseas from 6 million in recent years to 15 million by 2020.
Ayatollah Khamenei further stressed, “The world of Islam, including Muslim governments and peoples, must familiarize themselves with the Saudi rulers and correctly understand their blasphemous, faithless, dependent and materialistic nature”.
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Protesters also chanted slogans against the US, Britain and Israel. But protesters offered their harshest criticism for Saudi Arabia.
