Saudi Arabia’s top cleric has said Iranians are “not Muslims”, a day after Iran’s supreme leader denounced its management of the Hajj pilgrimage.
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Khaled Batarfi, senior columnist with the Saudi Gazette, told Al Jazeera that the rebuke to Saudi Arabia over last year’s tragedy contrasted with Iran’s health minister, who said during a visit to the country at the time of the accident that Saudi authorities had provided all needed medical assistance and care to victims of the crush, including Iranian pilgrims.
Velayati went on to say that Saudi Arabia has always backed extremism and Wahhabism and promoted deviant movements under the name of Islam.
“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”, Khamenei writes, adding that the Saudis are “themselves small and puny satans who tremble for fear of jeopardizing the interests of the Great Satan, the U.S”. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti dismissed Iran’s ire by arguing that Iranians are “not Muslims”.
In his statement, Khamenei extolled the hajj pilgrimage – a religious visit to Mecca required of every able Muslim who can afford the trip – before tearing into Saudi Arabia for its management of the pilgrimage, especially the stampede a year ago that, according to non-Saudi counts, killed over 2,400 people.
Iran is majority Shiite Muslim, while Saudi Arabia has mostly Sunni Muslims.
“Because of these rulers’ oppressive behaviour towards God’s guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj”, he continued.
For the first time in nearly three decades, Iranians will not participate in this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca after talks on logistics and security fell apart.
“The Al Saud regime has made some moves over the past years, which are very rare in the history of Islam”, Velayati, who is also an global adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, said. According to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Iran made “efforts to politicize hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims”. Riyadh said that Tehran made “unacceptable” demands – including the right to organise demonstrations. Saudi Arabia and Iran back opposite sides of the wars in Syria and Yemen, and support opposing political groups in Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon.
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“One of the most prominent incidents was on July 31, 1987, when Iranian pilgrims carrying photos of then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini and Iranian flags demonstrated during hajj, which led to blocked roads and the murder of pilgrims, citizens and security men”.
