RNA – During his advanced jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi stated that there is no doubt that the mismanagement of the Hajj pilgrimage by the Saudi authorities caused this tragedy and added that the accident was preventable but the authorities either did not want to or could not take the necessary steps to prevent it.
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi referred to the Saudi regime’s mishandling of this incident, and explained that such an incident of this extent is rare and unique: “Unfortunately, instead of first sympathizing with the family of the bereaved, failing to determine a group to investigate the cause of the accident are punish the offenders and compensating the victims for their losses or adopting measures (even with the help of others) so that such incidents are not repeated in the future, they said ‘this was due to divine fate and destiny which are inevitable!’ This is pure mismanagement!”
He criticized the Saudi’s excuse, saying: “Can we remove road controls and say the death toll from the accidents that will occur are caused by divine fate and destiny?”
The teacher in the Islamic Seminary of Qom explained that the House of Saud have not understood the meaning of divine fate and destiny, saying: “Even worse is that the Saudi Grand Mufti [Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al al-Shaykh] had stated that some pilgrims want to be killed in Mina and to reach a high station [in the hereafter] and put their selves in harm’s way."
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said that if they had planned for such incidents and dealt properly [with the results] of this tragedy, it would not have been so severe.
“This incident was very unfortunate and surprising,” he added.
He said all the more strange that the Bahraini Al Khalifa dynasty congratulated the Saudi’s for organizing a successful Hajj. “Is this not ignorance and stupidity? We want them to come to their senses and to reform their approach,” he said.
The Iranian scholar emphasized that the Hajj pilgrimage belongs to the entire Islamic community and said one of the adverse effects of this issue is the attack on the sanctity of the Hajj which unfortunately, brought about great damages, adding: “These losses cannot be simply and easily compensated for.”
In conclusion, Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi expressed hope that God will compensate [the victims] in different ways for this great loss to the Islamic world.
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