RNA – Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the tragic Mina Hajj stampede at the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Ridha in Mashhad, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyed Ali Ghazi-Asgar, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Hajj and Pilgrimage Affairs, said that the Mina incident as one of the great tragedies of history.
His Eminence added: “This disaster requires precision and investigation in order that the causes and factors of this incident become clear. The pilgrims from Iran who were killed in this catastrophe total 477 people. 461 were martyred in the Mina tragedy and four people were martyred after returning.”
He added that a large number of Sunnis as well as elites and experts in various disciplines were killed in Mina.
Hujjat al-Islam Ghazi-Asgar asked it has been asked if the Mina disaster could have been prevented and said: “The answer is ‘yes.’ If the Saudi government would use the funds that it spends killing Muslims in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and Iraq to develop the holy sites in Makkah and Madinah, such incidents would not occur.”
He said that performing the Hajj is not just relevant to today or yesterday. For more than 1,400 years, people have been performing the Hajj and the investment in performing the Hajj is very high and if we go back to sixty years ago, we would realize that when the pilgrims arrived in Hijaz, they would have witnessed insecurity, disease, theft and looting and many were killed in this way.
According to him, if the Al Saud had foresight, they would have changed the conditions and provided amenities for the Hajj pilgrims.
Hujjat al-Islam Ghazi-Asgar said, “The Ka’bah is the House of God and no one can claim it as their personal property. It is the qiblah of Muslims. The city of Makkah is located in Saudi Arabia but this matter is separate from Hajj. Hajj is related to all Muslims and the management of this pilgrimage must be international because the Al Saud have proven that they cannot manage it.”
In other remarks, he said that the Saudi Arabia’s accusations and propagation that Iran has politicalized the Hajj and exploited the Mina incident are false and unfounded.
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