Ahmed Al-Jarallah – Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

IT IS unacceptable that the regime in Iran imposes its position on politicizing the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Makkah (Hajj) over 56 member-States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). It is unacceptable that this regime is forcing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to relinquish its right to protect millions of Muslims who converge in the Kingdom to perform Hajj, not for nonsensical talk and inciting sedition.

The Hajj ritual is sacred. It neither accommodates political inclinations nor fall under the lust of leaders in the regime of Iran as they continue to pile up their failures in every aspect, whether in raising the ‘export of revolution’ and expansionism slogans for 37 years or its interference in the affairs of other Arab countries up to the point of atrocious aggressions.

These aggressions are similar to what happened in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Eastern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where they were repelled and defeated. This is in addition to their failure to subdue Yemen through the disguised occupation; whereas today they are reaping the thorns of their disappointment in Syria, Iraq and other countries where they sucked the blood of the people. Everything backfired on them as rows of caskets carrying their soldiers and officers continue to increase.

From the start, this hostile expansionism demeanor has had clear objectives — to divide and disperse the Arab world in a manner that corresponds with Iran and Israel’s practices which serve the secretive and historic alliance between Tehran and Tel Aviv.

Today, Tehran is completely mistaken if it wants to compensate for its losses by causing problems and organizing demonstrations or resorting to explosive charge and fabricating Hajj incidents. In fact, it is putting itself in direct confrontation with a billion and a half Muslims.

The call to practice this ritual is clear and does not need any explanation. Whoever interprets it the way the regime in Iran has been doing since 1979, his act is considered heresy regardless of the political justifications presented, because it is a direct and obvious distortion of the right objective of this religious ritual.

Almighty Allah says in Chapter 22:27-29 of the Holy Quran: “And proclaim to the people the Hajj (pilgrimage); they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass, so that they may witness the benefits for themselves and mention the name of Allah on known days over what He has provided for them of (sacrificial) animals. So eat of them and feed the miserable and poor. And then let them end their untidiness and fulfill their vows and perform Tawaf (circumambulation) around the ancient House (Kaaba).”

From where did the regime in Iran come with all these shenanigans that transformed the season and ritual of Hajj into an arena for political disputes and a place for offending followers of other religions?

It is up to the peacock Persian regime to realize that it does not have, and it will never have, the upper hand in the region. This is just an isolated deduction due to the inability of its leaders to comprehend and chime with the current and historical facts.

Despite attempts to spread allegations that Iranians are being barred from performing the ritual of Hajj this year, the regime should contemplate on what Iran’s Chairperson of Hajj and Visitations Saeed Awhadi said: “Lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to accept the conditions of Iran for Hajj this year ...” This means Tehran will bear responsibility because it is laying down political conditions for a religious issue.

The regime leaders in Tehran should know that history will never repeat itself. Whatever their intelligence officials did in the eighties such as bombings and criminal operations in the Holy Land, in addition to raising political slogans in marches organized by the members of Revolutionary Guard, will never happen again.

Add to this the fact that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has its sovereignty which everyone should respect. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a resolution which prohibits taking advantage of Hajj season to incite political disputes. This is what the regime in Iran should fully realize.

The regime in Iran should let the pilgrims perform their rituals, not to draw them towards nonsensical political talks that make someone deviate from his belief and render such person into a ‘fatality’ which is not pleasing to anyone except the destructive conspirator.