September 8, The Iran Project – Muslim scholars and political figures have slammed Saudi Arabia for depriving the pilgrims of Iran and several other Muslim countries from this year's Hajj rituals, calling for assigning Hajj management to Muslim countries.

Syrian Minister of Endowment and Religious Affairs Mohammed Abdul-Sattar Al Sayed said Saudi Arabia denied Syrian pilgrims of performing Hajj pilgrims for the fifth consecutive year, adding Saudi rulers exploit religious sites for achieving their malicious political objectives and implementing their Takfiri policies.

Stressing that Saudi Arabia has no right at all to deprive pilgrims of Hajj rituals, Maulana Jinan Asghar Maulai, a member of India Ulema Council said Hajj is a divine duty and no pilgrim should be excluded from performing its divine rites.

Hossein Komeili, a religious and political expert also noted that it is too strange that international organizations do not react to the Saudis’ un-Islamic and illegal behavior with the pilgrims from different countries.

Haider Alvi, a Pakistani scholar warned Al-Saud on the way they treat the pilgrims, saying it will finally lead to their destruction.

In addition, Islamic Party of Azerbaijan urged Muslim countries to spare no effort in preventing a repeat of the last year's tragedies.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also slammed Saudi rulers for creating obstacles to prevent the dispatch of Iranian pilgrims to this year's Hajj rituals.

Rouhani further lambasted Saudi authorities for their "tactlessness and ineptitude" in overseeing the Hajj pilgrimage last year, when thousands of Muslim pilgrims, including 465 Iranians, died in a human crush.

Earlier this week, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution raised and underlined the issue of Saudi rulers incompetency of managing Hajj in his message to the Muslim world on the occasion of the beginning of this year’s Hajj season and called for the incidents to be internationally investigated.
The tragic incident took place when two large masses of pilgrims converged at a crossroads during the symbolic ceremony of the stoning of Satan in Jamarat in September 2015.