News / Interviews

S Arabia losing spirit of Hajj pilgrimage: Pundit

Saturday, 10 September 2016 6:42 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 10 September 2016 10:20 AM ]

Saudi security forces stand near the bodies of Hajj pilgrims covered in sheets at the site of a crush in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, on September 24, 2015. ©AFP

Press TV has conducted an interview with Naseer al-Omari, an author and political commentator from New York, and Jihad Mouracadeh, a Middle East expert from Beirut, to discuss Saudi Arabia's mismanagement of the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.

Saudi Arabia has politicized the Hajj pilgrimage and even the holy religion of Islam in general, because their grand mufti calls some Hajj pilgrims “non-Muslim” and the Saudi officials refuse to take accountability for last year’s Hajj stampede, Omari told Press TV’s program ‘The Debate’ on Friday night.

Thus, the Saudi regime and their scholars have lost the spirit of Islam and the Hajj, he said, adding that the Saudi authorities “should be ashamed of themselves when they welcome people and then they do not protect their lives.”

More than 2,400 people, including at least 460 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives in a stampede in Saudi Arabia on September 24, 2015. Iran had the highest confirmed death toll among foreign nationalities in the Mina tragedy. Saudi Arabia claims that nearly 770 people were killed in the incident.

Iran has cancelled the participation of tens of thousands of its pilgrims in this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, which starts on Saturday, due to Saudi Arabia’s creation of obstacles in the way of Iranians seeking to perform the rituals.

The Riyadh regime expects other Islamic nations to keep silent over violation of human rights and killing of innocent lives in the kingdom, the author maintained, noting if other states express concern about the Saudis’ mismanagement of the Hajj, the kingdom accuses them of politicizing the pilgrimage.

Referring to the reason behind Saudi Arabia’s inaction in dealing with last year’s Mina tragedy, he stated that the Saudi authorities are comprised of royal families who refuse to take responsibility and they try to point the finger at other countries like Iran to get away with accountability for their mismanagement in the most important Islamic ritual.

Also speaking in the Press TV’s program ‘The Debate’, Mouracadeh said high tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia and their inability to reach consensus about this year’s Hajj pilgrimage prevented the Iranians from exercising this year's Islamic ritual.

The political expert also ruled out the accusation that the Saudis purposefully caused the catastrophic incident in last year’s Hajj.

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