[Saleh Ben Mohamed Al-Taleb, the Imam of Mecca’s Grand Mosque yesterday with subtites]
De facto alliance between Gulf States and Israel provides no shelter from demonizing the Jewish state
[Cairo] -While Muslims worldwide are unified in celebrating Eid Al-Adha [“Feast of the Sacrifice” commemorating Ibrahim (Abraham) being told to sacrifice his son], internal cleavages, national differences and sectarian rhetoric reverberated throughout the Middle East region over the holiday.
At the epicenter of the five-day festival in Saudi Arabia, officials took pride in hosting more than 1,325,372 “guests of Allah”- the term used for pilgrims who arrive from outside the kingdom to participate in the Hajj – the pilgrimage Muslims are required to make at least once in their lifetime.
Meanwhile, Saudi media accused Iran of attempting to set up an alternative hajj directing pilgrims toward Shiite shrines in southern Iraq.
Tehran barred Iranian nationals from participating in this year’s Hajj after talks on safety and logistical issues broke down in May.
Last Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Saudi royal family “murdered” more than two thousand pilgrims killed in last year’s deadly stampede which occurred at the site of the three jamarat – the stone walls where believers reenact the Muslim religious account of Abraham’s encounter with the devil. Some four hundred of the trampled victims were Iranian.
“When the faithful are focusing on their spiritual journey to please God, Iran is trying to start a sectarian war by sending its pilgrims to Karbala and Najaf,” Ghazi bin Al-Mutairi, a theology professor at Madinah’s Islamic University told the semi-official Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat. “It’s as if they are competing for the greatest and the holiest places.”
Despite talk in regional security circles of a de-facto alliance between Jerusalem and the Sunni Arab Gulf states, the holiday season’s political demonization was aimed Israel as well as Iran.
The official Saudi News Agency reported Monday that King Salman facilitated the visit of a thousand “relatives of Palestine martyrs to perform Hajj at the expense of the monarch.”
“The body of the Arab nation is in pain because of what’s happening in Palestine, Syria and Iraq,” said Saleh Ben Mohamed Al-Taleb, the Imam of Mecca’s Grand Mosque. “There our enemies are gathered together to defeat us and there is no help from the United Nations which is deaf to the children’s screaming.”
“Muslims should unite together to help their brothers,” declared Al-Taleb in his Eid Al-Adha sermon Monday which included prayers for the “Mujahedeen” — the Arabic plural noun for a jihadist — in Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Al-Taleb concluded with a prayer calling on Allah “to release Al-Aqsa from the oppressive vanquishers.”
Syria
In a Daraya, a Damascus suburb surrendered by rebels just weeks ago, Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad, an Alawaite, made triumphal appearance Monday at the Sunni Saad Ibn Muaz Mosque.
But even the cameras of Syrian state television could not obstruct views of the widely demolished neighborhood.
“We come here today to replace the false freedom they [the rebels] tried to market since the beginning of the crisis with real freedom,” said Assad. “This freedom starts with restoring security and safety, goes through reconstruction and ends with an independent national decision.”
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition sources say they have counted at least ten violations of the holiday ceasefire negotiated by US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Friday.
“On Friday more than eighty-five civilians were killed by Russian airstrikes while buying food for the Eid,” Sarah Karkour, Syrian Coalition spokeswoman told The Media Line. “Yesterday, regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Baradavillage, just west of Damascus. The holiday ceasefires rarely mean anything.”
Egypt
More than 700 prisoners received pre-holiday pardons from the Interior Ministry, Sunday, but no political activists were among those released from jail.
President Abel Fatah Al-Sissi attended a dawn service Monday at the massive El-Mosheer Tantawy in the Nasser City neighborhood close to Cairo’s international airport where the 37-year-old Imam Osama Azhari delivered a measured, introspective sermon.
“Islam seeks the security of all believers and finds God’s truth in science,” said Azhari, likely selected for his embrace of Sissi’s call for a “new religious discourse.” “Ours is a religion of peace and blessings.”
In the crowded streets of the capital few residents had much to say about the religious messages from Mecca or Nasser City.
“Most people are focused on having the money to buy a sheep or at least new clothes for the children,” said Shireen Al-Shaneety, a 34-year optician told The Media Line. “Egyptians are tired of speeches and sermons. We just want see better chances for the next generation.”