The government of Iran has assembled thousands in the capital, Tehran, to protest Saudi Arabia over a stampede that killed thousands at last year’s hajj pilgrimage. While Iranian media claim the protests were against the Sunni leaders of Riyadh and Bahrain,
Contents: Two million Muslims — but no Iranians — begin the Hajj pilgrimage on Friday; Saudi Arabia makes a dangerous accusation – that Iranians are ‘not Muslims’; Obama warns China not to ignore the Hague tribunal ruling on South China Sea
Saudi Arabia has begun issuing hajj pilgrims with identification bracelets one year after a stampede killed around 2,300 people.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has issued yet another tirade against Saudi Arabia’s control of the holiest site in Islam, Mecca, now claiming that America has “blood” on its hands over a stampede at last year’s hajj pilgrimage that killed thousands.
The Iraqi Parliament was unable to convene on Wednesday, citing the fact that seventy of its 328 members decided make the mandatory Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Saudi authorities of “bigoted extremism” late Tuesday in an increasingly bitter war of words over Iran’s exclusion from this year’s hajj pilgrimage.
Islamic authorities in Saudi Arabia have responded to an extensive missive by Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling the Saudis “murderers” and “puny Satans” in response to a massacre that killed thousands at last year’s hajj. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti dismissed Iran’s ire by arguing that Iranians are “not Muslims.”
Saudi Arabia’s top cleric said Iranians are “not Muslims”, after Iran’s supreme leader launched a fresh tirade over the kingdom’s handling of the hajj pilgrimage, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
In a message relayed by Iranian state media, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslim nations to “fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj.”
The Dubai police have been investigating claims that a Pakistani woman forced her 16-year-old daughter into prostitution to finance her family’s travel expenses for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Millions of Muslims around the world will mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, a time marked by intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts.
The Arab League’s parliament declared on Wednesday that the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj, “should not be politicized and exploited to target Saudi Arabia,” according to a report from the Saudi Gazette transcribed by al-Arabiya.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, described the Iranian military presence in Iraq as “unacceptable” during a press conference on Sunday.
Contents: A disastrous year in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia; Iran bans Iranians from attending the Hajj in 2016; Far left anti-government riots spread across France
JAFFA, Israel – Pilgrimage to Sinai’s El Tor Mountain is preferable to making hajj to Mecca, an Egyptian cleric has said.
TEL AVIV – The crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran sunk to a new low in recent days as Riyadh accused Iran of politicizing the hajj pilgrimage by stopping its own Iranian citizens from traveling to the religious event.
Iraqi and Kurdish officials have met to plan the long-delayed Battle of Mosul, an effort to push ISIS out of the city they have been using as their base of operations in Iraq.
The Associated Press has reviewed media reports and official comments from nations that reported the deaths of their citizens during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and found this year’s total standing at 1,621, with hundreds still missing.
The Saudi government allegedly beheaded the 28 people found responsible for the deadly stampede during the hajj pilgrimage in September.
The death toll from the tragedy that killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Hajj pilgrims last week outside of Mecca continues to rise this week, as official estimates from Islamic countries show that the real number of those who passed in the stampede is likely much larger than the 769 previously announced by Saudi Arabian authorities.
While Russia has diverted much of the world’s attention to the war in Syria, the Islamic State’s online propagandists are working to divert attention away from the dangers of living under ISIS with the announcement of two new theme parks opening in Iraq and Syria.
State press agencies in both Iran and Saudi Arabia have alleged new conspiracies about who is to blame for the Hajj stampede that killed hundreds of Muslim pilgrims last week.
Iran on Thursday nearly doubled its death toll from the hajj stampede to 464, giving up hope of finding missing pilgrims alive after a tragedy that has sparked a major row with Saudi Arabia. After Iran threatened a “fierce” response
Iranian dictator Ali Khamenei continues to call for Saudi Arabia to apologize for the deaths of over 750 people killed last week in a stampede during the Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Monday afternoon, discussing matters such as the Hajj pilgrimage disaster and the Iran nuclear deal.
DUBAI, UAE – Iran berated Saudi Arabia on Sunday over the deaths of 769 people at the haj pilgrimage, demanding an apology and accusing its rival of seeking to evade blame, while Riyadh in turn accused Tehran of playing politics
Contents: Death toll from Hajj stampede rises to 769, triggers fatalistic explanations; Iran rejects Fatalism, blames Saudi officials for ‘crime’; Muslims debate the role of the ‘Will of Allah’ in human life; Theological contradictions in omnipotence and omniscience vs free will
Iran on Saturday vowed to take international legal action against Saudi Arabia’s rulers over the crush of Muslim pilgrims at this year’s hajj
A stampede in Mecca on the last day of the hajj pilgrimage took the lives of over 100 Iranian citizens, as the total death toll from the incident has surged to over 700 people, and the leaders of the regime in Tehran are furious with Saudi officials for their alleged negligence.
Dozens of people were killed outside of Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday when an Islamic State terrorist snuck into a Shiite mosque dressed in ultra-conservative Islamic women’s garb and carried out a suicide bombing.
Muslim parents and schoolchildren in New Jersey were outraged this week when they learned that the entire Jersey City school district would not be closed for Thursday’s Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
In Saudi Arabia, at least two million Muslims swarmed the Kaaba in the middle of Mecca’s Grand Mosque to begin their annual hajj pilgrimage.
Misfortune struck in Mecca during the annual Islamic pilgrimage again on Thursday, but this time there were no fatalities reported, and only two injuries. A hotel in the Saudi city caught fire, requiring the evacuation of over 1,000 people.
The Saudi Binladin Group is a huge company that has, until now, been the Saudi government’s “favorite contractor for important or sensitive work, including defense and security projects,” as Reuters puts it.
The big Gulf oil kingdoms refuse to take any Syrian refugees, even though they are much closer to the war zone than Europe, and passage to the Gulf would be far less hazardous than risking death in overcrowded boats on the Mediterranean.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Islamic State group is extending its reach in Saudi Arabia, expanding the scope of its attacks and drawing in new recruits with its radical ideology. Its determination to bring down the U.S.-allied royal family has raised concerns it could threaten the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage later this month.
A video of a man performing part of his pilgrimage to Mecca while riding a hoverboard has prompted a debate among Muslims regarding whether the device is permitted. At least one scholar has approved, as long as a disability prevents the man from completing the voyage on foot.
Saudi Arabia faces another surge in the MERS coronavirus infections as citizens ready for the Hajj pilgrimage.
The Israeli defense establishment is expected to ease travel restrictions for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza territories during the Muslim’s holy fasting month of Ramadan, several news outlets report.
Deadly MERS virus surging early in Saudi Arabia; India has worst H1N1 swine flu outbreak in years; Egypt’s al-Sisi calls for a joint Arab military force; Armenia’s president sends condolence letter to Egypt’s al-Sisi
