Two years after Mina carnage, Saudi regime is irresponsible

One of the most important ceremonies of the Islamic world is the journey to the land of revelation Mecca and performing hajj pilgrimage. Hajj is one of the most significant worships in Islam. As the lunar month of Zil-Hijja comes, Muslims go to the Holy Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) in Mecca and perform certain rituals.

Each Muslim is required to perform hajj once in his lifetime provided that the conditions are met. Hajj is the display of servitude before the One and Omnipresent God. Hajj is an obligatory act for any Muslim who is mature, wise and free. Every year over 2.5 million Muslims travel from different countries to the land of revelation (Holy Mecca) to perform hajj rituals. In view of this, hajj season is very blessed for Muslims. But for two years, this period has become reminiscent of very bitter and harrowing memories. The Saudi reaction and irresponsibility against the huge stampede of Mina in 2015 adds further salt to the pains and sufferings of the Islamic Ummah. Instead of seeking apology from the Islamic Ummah, specially the families of the martyrs of the catastrophe of Mina, the criminal Saudis look quite indifferent toward the tragic event and try to cast it into oblivion.

Two years ago, one of the most poignant and gruesome tragedies took place in Mina, near Mecca, during hajj rituals while 2.5 plus million Muslims were leaving their camps. According to unofficial accounts nearly 8000 innocent pilgrims lost their lives due to stampede and intensive heat. Considering the convergence of over two million people at a specific area in the vicinity of Mecca to observe part of the hajj rituals, special measures should be taken to facilitate the performance of their rituals with order and discipline. But the 2015 hajj season was full of irresponsibility on the part of the rulers of the land of revelation and danger for hajj pilgrims (guests of God, as they are called in numerous narrations of the Prophet and infallible Imams). The first incident was the collapse of a gigantic crane in the precincts of the holy Mosque. The crane was the largest crane, among a dozen of others, which had been placed in the courtyard for the expansion of the holy Mosque. Not only hadn’t the incompetent rulers of the regime removed these heavy cranes from this sacred place during hajj pilgrimage, they didn’t also repair the dilapidated structure of the cranes. On September 11, 2015 coinciding with 27^th of Zil-Qa’da 1436 AH, the colossal crane collapsed over the guests of God resulting in the martyrdom of 107 hajis and injury of 238 others.

After the bloody incident of the crane, a more calamitous incident was going to occur for over 2 million pilgrims. On the morning of Eid al-Adha, September 24, 2015, while masses of hajis were getting prepared for Ramy-e Jamarat or symbolic stoning of Satan, the Saudi security forces blocked the exit road as the entourage of the Crown Prince Salman drove directly in the opposite of the exiting crowd. Then they guided the crowd to a secondary narrow route which had already been blocked. Every moment, the number of hajis increased and over 7,000 pilgrims lost their lives as a result of trampling and scorching heat. The Saudi relief operators not only refused to assist the hajis but they came with a great delay which led to the martyrdom of more pilgrims. Thus a gruesome tragedy took place on the day of Eid al-Adha 1436 AH in Mina. The Saudi reaction to the tragedy added salt to the sufferings of the Muslim world and was an insult to the entire Islamic world. The self-styled servants of the two shrines in Mecca and Medina did not assume any responsibility in this regard. They considered the hajis responsible for the tragedy and brazenly said that it was the Will of Providence. Daily Al-Khabar wrote: Although the Saudi officials had the opportunity to apologize for this mismanagement of hajj, they blamed others for the incident. The irony of the matter is that shortly after the catastrophe, the Saudi king, Salman bin Abdul Aziz, shamelessly congratulated former Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef on good management of hajj.

The Islamic Republic of Iran with 464 martyrs had the highest number of victims. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s officials, since the beginning of the tragedy, did their best to help other hajis and survivors in a bid to find and transfer bodies of martyrs to Iran. After the return of the pilgrims and the return of the bodies of victims to the country, the legal follow-up of the incident was put on the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran in order to prevent the repetition of such disasters. Unfortunately, the tribal Saudi regime did not answer to any of the initiatives and efforts of the Islamic Republic, including "bilateral efforts", the proposal to "establish an International Islamic fact-finding Committee" through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and even "fraternal and voluntary efforts of some Islamic countries of the region" to track the effects and the heinous consequences of the bloody hajj tragedy. All of the pilgrims are insured during the hajj ritual and the Saudi government is obliged to pay to the survivors and hajj victims who have lost their lives due to Saudi negligence and malfeasance. Now two years have passed since Mina tragedy but still the file of this cataclysmic event is open despite the Saudi regime’s unaccountability toward the crime.

The Saudi rulers have proved their irresponsibility and incompetence in hosting the guests of God. The Saudi officials, masquerading as servants of the two holy shrines in Mecca and Medina, are seeking to act as the pioneer and leader of Arab countries with savage ideas and anti-Islamic approaches of Wahhabism which have nothing to do with the genuine teachings of the Prophet of Islam. The forging of Daesh terrorist outfit in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and assistance to the Takfiri and terrorist groups and killing any Muslim who opposes Wahhabi ideas are all carried out under the guise of being the servants of the two holy shrines in Mecca and Medina. Irresponsibility to the survivors of the victims of Mina tragedy in 2015 is the result of the ignorance of Muslims in general of the real image of the Saudi regime or the fear of some of the rulers of Islamic countries who are cowed and silenced by the petrodollars of Saudi regime. But the nefarious crimes of the Saudi-sponsored and trained terrorists, such as Daesh, al-Nusra and so on, in the face of the Resistance Front, has further disclosed the real image of the Wahhabi ideology not only among the Muslims but to the whole world. 

FK/RM//ME