Tehran, Iran, September 5
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Because of Saudi rulers’ oppressive behavior towards God’s guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj, said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his Hajj Message of 2016.
“Those who have reduced hajj to a religious-tourist trip and have hidden their enmity and malevolence towards the faithful and revolutionary people of Iran under the name of “politicizing hajj”, are themselves small and puny devils who tremble for fear of jeopardizing the interests of the Great Satan, the US,” reads the message which was published on the Supreme Leader’s official website September 5.
More than 460 Iranians were among the thousands of pilgrims who died in a stampede on September 24, 2015 in Mina, near Mecca, during the Hajj ritual. The incident marked the worst tragedy in the history of Hajj.
Saudi authorities have come under fire for their inability to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca every year.
“The heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers- instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them,” Ayatollah Khamenei added in his message to the hajj pilgrims.
“Because of these rulers’ oppressive behavior towards God’s guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj. Negligence in this regard will confront the Islamic Ummah (nation) with more serious problems in the future.”