Mecca chief urges to fight sectarianism

Mina : The governor of Saudi Arabia’s Mecca region yesterday urged Muslim religious leaders to fight sectarianism. 

Prince Khaled al-Faisal was speaking at a news conference to discuss the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which ends today.

“I call on Muslim leaders, whether they are political leaders, ulemas (scholars), or intellectuals, to combat sectarianism,” Faisal said.

“Combat this sectarian divide between Muslims. Islam is one and only one religion,” Faisal said in Mina, a pilgrimage site on the edge of Mecca.

“Islam is unique. There is no multiple Islam,” said Faisal, president of the Central Hajj Committee.

He said this year’s Hajj occurred without incident despite “the lies and allegations... of those who wanted to place in doubt the capacity of the kingdom to serve the pilgrims.”

Among its concerns over Iranian participation in this year’s Hajj, Riyadh said Tehran had demanded the right to organise demonstrations.

Security was one of the contentious issues following last year’s Hajj stampede which, according to foreign officials, killed roughly 2,300 people. Reiterating a point made on Tuesday by King Salman, Faisal said Saudi Arabia does not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs “but we don’t permit the holy sites and the Hajj to be used for political ends”.

1.8m attended

More than 1.8 million faithful from around the world have been attending the annual pilgrimage.

The General Authority for Statistics in Saudi Arabia said that this year’s Hajj has seen a total of 1,862,909 pilgrims, of whom 1,325,372 pilgrims came from outside Saudi Arabia, while the total pilgrims inside totalled 537,537 pilgrims.

The total non-Saudi pilgrims numbered 1,692,417, while the total Saudi pilgrims reached 170,492 pilgrims.

Male pilgrims made up of 1,082,228 persons while the total female pilgrims reached 780,681 persons, according to the Saudi Press Agency.