Cleric comes down on Western occupation

3 million people from around the world arrive for Haj

November 15, 2010 09:57 pm | Updated 09:57 pm IST - Mount Arafat (Saudi Arabia):

Saudi Arabia's top cleric on Monday condemned Western occupation of foreign lands, during a key sermon to millions of Muslims performing the annual Haj pilgrimage.

“Islam forbids the occupation of a country, and the unlawful shedding of civilian blood, and the destruction of crops and cattle,” said Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh.

“The rights of people in Third World nations is not as it is in other countries, and it is unacceptable that nations occupy these lands and rape them of their riches,” the mufti told some 3 million people from around the world.

Violence

His speech was given in the mosque at Mount Arafat.

“But violence cannot be cured with violence and neither can terrorism be cured with force, but by lifting injustices levied on oppressed peoples,” he told the pilgrims.

Grand Mufti Al-Sheikh stressed that Islam is a religion of “great mercy” and that it preached equality.

Saudi Arabia has recently warned that the pilgrimage could be targeted by terrorist attacks. One group, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has denied it had any such plans.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.