Will Islam's Holiest Site be Taken From Saudis?
- 9 years ago
The unusual crane collapse last Friday at the Grand Mosque in Mecca has apparently sparked a fallout in the Muslim world regarding its holiest site, as senior Egyptian religious figures called for Saudi authority over the site to be changed.
Sheikh Salman Mohammed, an adviser of Egypt's Ministry of Religious Endowments, told Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency that Saudi Arabia's sole authority over the Grand Mosque where the Kaaba is located needs to be changed.
"Many mistakes have been made during the Hajj ceremony in recent decades and the bloody Friday incident was not the first case and will not be the last either; therefore, unless a revolution doesn't take place in the administration and management of the Hajj ceremony in Saudi Arabia, we will witness such incidents in future too," said Mohammed to the news site.
The crane accident came during Binladin Group's work on a massive construction project to expand the area of the Grand Mosque by 400,000 square meters to allow up to 2.2 million visitors at once, according to Gulf News .
Sheikh Salman Mohammed, an adviser of Egypt's Ministry of Religious Endowments, told Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency that Saudi Arabia's sole authority over the Grand Mosque where the Kaaba is located needs to be changed.
"Many mistakes have been made during the Hajj ceremony in recent decades and the bloody Friday incident was not the first case and will not be the last either; therefore, unless a revolution doesn't take place in the administration and management of the Hajj ceremony in Saudi Arabia, we will witness such incidents in future too," said Mohammed to the news site.
The crane accident came during Binladin Group's work on a massive construction project to expand the area of the Grand Mosque by 400,000 square meters to allow up to 2.2 million visitors at once, according to Gulf News .