RNA – During his Friday prayer sermon delivered to a large and fervent crowd of believers in Qom’s Holy Shrine of Lady Fatimah al-Ma’sumah, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyed Mohammad Sa’idi said that Iran’s Iran-Iraq War martyrs, wounded and veterans defended Islam, their country, and the obeyed the commands of the Guardian Jurisprudent of their time and sacrificed their lives on this path.
He added that next Friday, we will celebrate Eid al-Ghadir, the day which God Almighty introduced Imam Ali as the caliph and successor of the Prophet Muhammad and it was Imam Ali who demonstrated the correct way of practicing Islam after the Prophet’s passing.
“We hope in these days, greater efforts must be made to introduce Islamic and Shi’a knowledge, especially to the younger generation,” he said.
Hujjat al-Islam Sa’idi referred to Thursday’s traumatic stampede in Mina, saying: “The Saudi’s incompetent management of the situation was the cause of these incidents.”
The trustee of the Holy Shrine of Lady Fatimah al-Ma’sumah stressed that despite an 80-year-long history of holding the Hajj ceremony, the Saudis do not deserve to hold it.
He added that last year more than twenty million pilgrims participated in the Arba’in commemorations in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala and despite the insecurity and numerous threats from Takfiri terrorists, there were no problems.
“However, the Saudis cannot handle two million pilgrims,” he said.
His Eminence added that the Saudi’s role in this incident made this years’ Eid al-Adha bitter for the Muslims of the world, and emphasized that: “Being a custodian of a holy shrine is a huge responsibility and according to God Almighty, only the pious have the ability to fill this role but it is still to be seen whether the current custodians have followed the example of the Quranic verse in this regard or not.”
“The House of Saud do not think about God’s satisfaction and they consider attracting their American master’s attention as more important than anything,” he said.
Hujjat al-Islam Sa’idi referred to 1987 incident in Makkah, where hundreds of Hajj pilgrims were killed by the Saudis and noted that this years’ crane collapse at the Sacred Mosque and Thursday’s incident in Mina are the most telling evidence that the Saudis do not deserve to run the Two Holy Mosques.
His Eminence continued: “Reports say that the convoy of a Saudi prince [Muhammad ibn Salman Al Saud] travelling in the opposite direction of the pilgrims was the main reason for the high number of pilgrims being killed. The Saudi government is desperately trying to hide the cause of the incident, but they can never hide from their role in the crimes of the previous day.”
He said that this fact was mentioned by the late Imam Khomeini in 1987, wherein he said that the Islamic world should stand with one voice on this issue and a new plan should be presented to administer the Two Holy Mosques.
Hujjat al-Islam Sa’idi stated that Thursday’s catastrophe was an overwhelming tragedy for all of us and added that Iran’s Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, also offered a message of condolences over the tragedy to Imam al-Mahdi and to the survivors and declared three days of mourning.
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