According to Islamic teachings, the hajj is the annual manifestation of Muslim unity. This is a common theme among Muslim scholars when describing the scene of millions of Muslim worshipers from around the world, all wearing plain white robes and performing the same rituals, despite their ethnic and sectarian differences. This grand, symbolic gesture of Islamic unity seems to be reeling under the effect of politics, in particular the row between the two dominant Islamic states in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which since 2012 appear to be engaged in an undeclared state of regional war.
The two countries opened a new chapter in their already tense relations Sept. 5 when Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched one of the harshest verbal attacks on the government of Saudi Arabia since being chosen to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. In his annual hajj message, Khamenei recalled the stampede during last year’s hajj that led to a reported 2,000 people being killed, among them 472 Iranians.