Mena Tragedy (8)

Welcome to the 8th and last part of our series on last year’s tragedy at Mena in holy Mecca during the Hajj pilgrimage that led to the martyrdom of over 2,000 pilgrims to the symbolic house of God, the holy Ka’ba, including some 500 Iranians, because of the criminal negligence of law and order by the Wahhabi regime of Saudi Arabia, which this year has violated the tenets of Islam by barring pilgrims from Iran from performing the religious obligation of Hajj.

Yesterday we said that except for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the other countries whose pilgrims were killed during the Hajj, did not defend the rights of their nationals nor did they took the Saudi regime to task for the catastrophe, because of being silence by the bribes from Riyadh. It is indeed a matter of deep regret that by refusing to call for a probe into the capital crime of the Saudis, they have actually given the Wahhabis a carte blanche to continue their crimes against Islam and humanity. The first right of every human is the right of life. Article 2 of Islamic Human Rights Charter reads: Life is among God’s gift and the right to life is guaranteed to every human being. It is the duty of individuals, societies and governments to support this right by standing steadfast against any aggression. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: everyone has the right of life, freedom and personal security.

Yet despite such clauses supporting human and Muslim rights, the Aal-e Saud regime continues to freely indulge in the killing of the Guests of God, and to deprive tens of thousands of world Muslims from performing the Hajj. It is a heretical regime that has no regard for Islamic laws or human life, and that is the reason, Riyadh does not want to offer any apology to the bereaved families of the martyrs of the Mena tragedy and to the heads of state of those countries that lost their national in the Mena stampede.

It is now clear that the Saudis, who are since 1925 are in occupation of Hijaz and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have neither the right to organize the annual pilgrimage, nor to bar pilgrims from the House of God – such as the Iranians, the Syrians, and Yemenis. A regime that bars women from driving, has created the Takfiri terrorist groups, and for past year and a half has unleashed state terrorism on the poor people of Yemen, should not be in charge of organizing the Hajj pilgrimage. It has been for years that several groups, figures, and even governments have offered advice to the Saudi regime to for better management of the pilgrimage, but Riyadh has rebuffed. It is a growing belief among Muslim intellectuals around the world that the Islamic Cooperation Organization should take over management of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, for better management of the Hajj. Some thirty years ago, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), while denouncing Saudi regime for the massacre of 400, mostly Iranian pilgrims. The present Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has rightfully described the Saudi regime of the Tree of Evil, and called for taking over the responsibility of conducting the Hajj. It is time for the Muslim World to wake up and press for setting of an International Islamic Body, for management of the Hajj.

AS/MG