The imam (Islamic cleric) of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia lashed out at Israel while cursing the United States and the coalition in Iraq. The imam, Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Sudais, called for Muslims to unite against their enemies in a sermon marking the start of Islam's most important holiday.
"In Palestine, the Muslim suffers under oppression and Al-Aqsa mosque buckles under occupation...how can we live peacefully while our holy lands where prophets have passed are being tarnished...?" said Sheikh Abdul Rahman from Islam's holiest site, located in western Saudi Arabia. "They (Israelis) are multiplying their aggression everyday by building new settlements and separating walls."
The influential cleric warned Muslims, in a broadcast over Arab satellite television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, that Islam’s enemies are everywhere.
"I pray that our brothers in the nation of the Rafideen ( Mesopotamia ) be governed according to the sunna (Islamic rules)," said Sudais, calling on Muslims everywhere to unite "to defeat all their occupiers and oppressors."
Sudais complained that Islam is "misrepresented by Western media which associate it with terror."
Today (Sunday), at least 250 Muslims were killed as they took part in this year’s hajj, a once-in-a-lifetime-obligatory pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia. Many others were injured. The Muslims were trampled to death during the devil-stoning ritual, whereby pilgrims frantically throw rocks, shout insults and hurl other objects at pillars representing the devil.
Saudi officials say they do not have an exact count of the dead and injured due to continuing commotion. This is not the first time this has happened. In 2001, 35 people died in a stampede; in 1998, 18 people were trampled to death; in 1997, 343 people died and 1,500 were injured; in 1994, 270 people were killed in a stampede; in 1990, 1,426 people were killed in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel; and in 1987, 400 died when a confrontation ensued between Iranian and Saudi pilgrims.
"In Palestine, the Muslim suffers under oppression and Al-Aqsa mosque buckles under occupation...how can we live peacefully while our holy lands where prophets have passed are being tarnished...?" said Sheikh Abdul Rahman from Islam's holiest site, located in western Saudi Arabia. "They (Israelis) are multiplying their aggression everyday by building new settlements and separating walls."
The influential cleric warned Muslims, in a broadcast over Arab satellite television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, that Islam’s enemies are everywhere.
"I pray that our brothers in the nation of the Rafideen ( Mesopotamia ) be governed according to the sunna (Islamic rules)," said Sudais, calling on Muslims everywhere to unite "to defeat all their occupiers and oppressors."
Sudais complained that Islam is "misrepresented by Western media which associate it with terror."
Today (Sunday), at least 250 Muslims were killed as they took part in this year’s hajj, a once-in-a-lifetime-obligatory pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia. Many others were injured. The Muslims were trampled to death during the devil-stoning ritual, whereby pilgrims frantically throw rocks, shout insults and hurl other objects at pillars representing the devil.
Saudi officials say they do not have an exact count of the dead and injured due to continuing commotion. This is not the first time this has happened. In 2001, 35 people died in a stampede; in 1998, 18 people were trampled to death; in 1997, 343 people died and 1,500 were injured; in 1994, 270 people were killed in a stampede; in 1990, 1,426 people were killed in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel; and in 1987, 400 died when a confrontation ensued between Iranian and Saudi pilgrims.