Hajj tragedy - Muslims need to set up a body to manage

[Oostur Raza]

   Time to take Mecca away from Saudis

 

Given repeated disasters during Hajj at Mecca & Medina and the distortion of Islam by Saudi rulers and their Wahabi doctrine, I suggest it is time to take control of Mecca from Saudi regime. Here are the facts to support my suggestion:

 

(1)  Saudis have repeatedly failed to manage the Hajj pilgrimage in a safe and healthy environment. Saudis do not have an elected government and have no checks and balances in place to efficiently administer the holy sites of Muslims. 

 

(2)  Repeated disasters are a clear example of poor management and tiered system set up by Saudis to serve rich better than poor and Wahabis in preference over others.

The current set up offers no path to improvement or reform.

 

(3)  Over 99% of Muslims are either Sunni or Shia. The Saudi king and his family follow and promote Wahabi doctrine which is extreme in its interpretations and at times in contradiction of Islamic teachings and values. Wahabi sect is a very small minority and promotes primitive tribal doctrines as part of Islam.

 

(4)  The Saudis force all Muslims to conform to their Wahabi version of Islam during pilgrimage. This denial of religious freedom is unparalleled in today’s world and against the core teachings of Islam.

 

(5)  Saudis have bull dozed historic cemeteries and graves and punish people who pray at those places to promote their Wahabi doctrine. This creates a difficult Mecca and Hajj experience for vast majority of Muslims.  

 

(6)  Saudis have demolished historical places including those related to Prophet and his associates.  This is a blatant attempt to wipe out Muslim history to support their Wahabi narrative and doctrine.  This denies Muslims and the world to see and understand 7^th century Mecca, Madina and times of Prophet Mohammed.

 

(7)  Saudis do not treat women population as equal citizens and in deny many common human rights to women. They also control and deny education to women. This is in direct contradiction to both Quran and the teachings of the Prophet.

 

(8)  The Saudis use their oil dollars to promote Wahabi doctrine across Muslim world. This has resulted in disrupting and in some cases wiping out local cultures and heritages in many countries. Taliban, Al Qaida, Lashkare Tayeba and IS (or ISIS) are all byproducts of Wahabi doctrine and are supported by money from Saudi Arabia. The end result has been a massacre of thousands of Muslims with huge burden on women and children. The key supporters of Saudis are Israel and USA. Ironically, in the end Americans end up paying the bill to fight these barbaric and brutal extremists funded by Saudi money.

 

Given above facts, I propose to eliminate the Saudi mischief from the world. The removal of Saudi tribal King must be left up to the Saudi people. However, to protect Muslim heritage and rights to practice Islam, I propose putting all Muslim religious sites in Saudi Arabia under a body which represents all Muslims.  I call upon all Muslim nations to immediately convene a conference to formulate such a body and take control of all Muslim sites.

 

Oostur Raza

Gilroy, California

Date: September 24, 2015