Members of Iran’s Quran Delegation to Hajj Announced
Mohammad Taqi Mirzajani, head of the secretariat of the Committee for Dispatching Quran Reciters, told IQNA that some members of the delegation have been selected based on the results of an exam held last year.
He noted that for some reasons, the country did not send a Quranic convoy to Hajj last year but it was decided that this year, a delegation go to Saudi Arabia for conducting Quranic activities like previous years.
According to the official, the convoy is headed by prominent Quran master Ahmad Abolqasemi.
It also includes a number of Qaris from different provinces, such as Qassem Moqaddami from Khuzestan, Hamed Alizadeh from Razavi Khorsan and Ali Shaabani from Fars as well as Mia’ad Tawasheeh (religious singing) group from Qom, he went on to say.
Selected Quran reciters, memorizers and Tawasheeh groups from Iran are sent to Saudi Arabia during Hajj annually to perform Quranic programs in the holy cities of Makkah and Medina.
Every year millions of Muslims from around the world gather in the holy city of Makkah for the annual Hajj.
Iran also sends pilgrims as well as a groups of Quran activists, known as the Noor (light) Hajj Delegation.
The members of the delegation hold Quranic programs, including Quran recitation session for the pilgrims.
In 2016, Iran did not take part in Hajj after tensions between Riyadh and Tehran boiled over following a deadly crush of people during the 2015 pilgrimage.
On September 24, 2015, thousands of people lost their lives in the crush after Saudi authorities blocked a road in Mina during a ritual, forcing large crowds of pilgrims to collide.
The crush was the deadliest incident in the history of the pilgrimage. Saudi Arabia claims nearly 770 people were killed in the incident, but officials at Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say about 7,000 people, including over 460 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives.
Among those killed, were some members of Iran’s Quranic delegation, including Mohsen Hajihassani Kargar and Hassan Danesh.
