“We must understand that they are not Muslims, as they are the descendants of the Magus, and their animosity towards Muslims – especially the Sunnis – is very ancient,”Grand Mufti Abd al-Aziz Al ash-Sheikh said”.
Advertisement
Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, voiced similar sentiments Tuesday, accusing Saudi Arabia of intentionally killing pilgrims a year ago. “They murdered them”, he wrote in his blog.
The two sides have failed to agree on safety and logistical issues, ostensibly prompting Iran’s exclusion from the pilgrimage on September 10, the first time in almost three decades that Iranians have been barred from Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia. They back opposing sides in Syria’s civil war and a list of other conflicts across the Middle East. However, it doesn’t mean that there has been no more incidents; as in different years, many people have fallen casualty in dozens and hundreds to misconduct of organizers in stampedes, fire incidents, construction failures, etc. Iran had by then learned how to organize its own pilgrims in the best possible manner to avoid such incidents.
As the guardian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organising Hajj. He claims that the Saudis foster religious divisions and arm “the evil infidel groups”, referring to extreme Sunni organizations like ISIL, who see the Shi’ites and any other Muslim minority group as infidels deserving death. “They are children of magi and their hostility toward Muslims is an old one”. Saudi Arabia has failed to utilize lessons from previous disasters to reduce or eliminate future consequences.
The Secretary-General also stressed that the GCC countries reject the unjust media campaign and successive statements by senior Iranian officials against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the GCC states.
Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on September 7 that Islamic countries should take “punitive” measures against Saudi Arabia. Angry demonstrators later attacked two Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran and Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties to the Islamic Republic. More than 400 of the pilgrims who died were Iranian.
The history of animosity between Saudi Arabia and Iran has on several occasions spilled over to the hajj, leading to bloodshed.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution called on Iranian officials to seriously follow up on the formation of a fact-finding committee, adding: “If Al Saud is assured of its own alleged innocence in the Mina incident, it should not gag mouths with money and let a fact-finding committee closely pursue the issue”.
It’s a five-day pilgrimage and is one of the world’s largest gatherings.
Events in 1989 further dented relations, as Saudi Arabia accused Iran in connection with two bombing incidents during the hajj, purportedly in retaliation for Saudi restrictions against Iranian pilgrims.
“Indeed, no resemblance between Islam of Iranians and most Muslims, and bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric and Saudi terror masters preach”, Zarif tweeted. Demonstrations have since been permitted by the Saudi authorities only in a specific compound in Mecca, with few incidents reported thereafter.
Advertisement
Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said Saudi Arabia was “destined” to watch over Islam’s holy sites, accusing Iran of trying to stir up sectarian discord as some 1.3 million Muslims convened in Mecca this week.
