‘Disavowal of Disbelievers’ A Quranic Initiative: Iranian Hajj Official
Speaking in an interview with IQNA, Hojat-ol-Islam Seyed Abdol Fattah Navab said God, in Surah Tawba of the Quran, has presented magnificent images of disavowal of disbelievers.
The senior cleric urged all Muslim countries to perform the ritual during Hajj.
Asked about the political aspects of Hajj, he underlined that the annual pilgrimage is a political and religious phenomenon that can enhance Islamic unity and expand Basirat (insight) in the Muslim world.
He noted that the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (RA), and Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, have stressed the importance of the political dimension of Hajj.
Elsewhere in the interview, Hojat-ol-Islam Navab underlined that need for all Iranian hajj pilgrims to attend congregational prayers in the holy mosques in Mecca and Medina during the Hajj.
Ayatollah Khamenei appointed his new representative in Hajj and pilgrimage affairs in May.
Hojat-ol-Islam Navab replaced Hojat-ol-Islam Seyed Ali Qaziaskar, who had served in the post since 2010.
Nearly 86,000 Iranians will make the Hajj pilgrimage this year.
Iran sent 86,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Hajj in 2018. In 2017 some 85,000 Iranians made the pilgrimage.
A year earlier, more than 1.8 million pilgrims attended Hajj but Iranians stayed at home 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 deadly 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. According to an Associated Press count based on official statements from the 36 countries that lost citizens in the disaster, more than 2,400 pilgrims were killed in the incident.
Saudi Arabia claims nearly 770 people were killed, but officials at Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say about 4,700 people, including over 460 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives.
http://iqna.ir/fa/news/3825280
