Mecca Hajj 2015 Deaths and Sovereignty: Why The Saudi Arabian State Is Wrong -By Adeolu Ademoyo

“Oversight of these holy places and the hajj is a matter of sovereignty and privilege and service,”-Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal of the Saudi Arabian Monarchy.

The human tragedy during the 2015 Hajj in Mecca brought sorrow and misery to many families globally, including Nigerian families. However, what is missing in this tragedy is the failure to distinguish what, on one hand, is a clearly internal Saudi Arabian culture and sovereignty applicable and relevant only to Saudi Arabian people but which are often wrongly pressed into relations with Muslims from other countries, politics of economic and political ownership of the Mecca pilgrimage and the gains from it and, on the other hand, religion and faith in God.

This distinction is obvious to common sense such that ignoring it – as some do – reduces the scope and depth of understanding. This may suggest that some people and countries are gaining economically and politically from the failure to clearly draw this distinction.

But in the active practice of faith, retreats undertaken to be in communion with one’s God is a normal and sound practice. Depending on each faithful’s relationship with his or her God, these retreats could be anywhere – Ibadan, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Mecca, Jerusalem, Rome, Dakar, Osogbo etc. It is difficult in matters of faith to say and claim that one location for retreat is spiritually better and more acceptable to God than the other. The question will be: who says – God or human?

The annual pilgrimage to Mecca by those who can afford it is one of these spiritual retreats. Like any other retreat, ordinarily, such retreats ought to refresh, re-energise and rekindle the faith of the faithful. So, given the benefit of more and better religious literacy in the 21st century we ought to better understand spiritual and religious retreats. This is because for genuine and sincere theists – across all religions – who pay obeisance to faith in God rather than the culture and sovereignty of an earthly country, power, and princes, such retreats bring us closer in communion with our God – the location of such retreats notwithstanding.

So when over 1,500 faithful (figures of the dead continue to change) – including fellow Nigerians – lost their lives in the 2015 Hajj to Mecca to a clear failure of planning and management by Saudi Arabia’s government and political authorities, the critical anguish from people around the world and the loved ones of those who sadly lost their lives should be expected because it is sound and legitimate.

Oversight of holy places belongs to God and his people in all countries and not to a Saudi feudal class masquerading under religion and afraid of losing economic and political privileges.

The legitimacy of the anguish of people is further driven by the fact that these deaths in Saudi Arabia are common and regular during the Hajj. The difference is the number of lives that are lost each year. So why do we sacrifice human lives cheaply at the altar of what someone – Turki al Faisal, a Saudi official, a prince – has called his country’s (Saudi Arabia) sovereignty?

This is why the response of the Saudi official, Mr. Turki to those who ask for a review of the planning and management of the Hajj is instructive but regrettable. Mr. Turki ought to have known that he was talking to a global audience and not his fellow Saudis when he said, “Oversight of these holy places and the hajj is a matter of sovereignty, privilege and service”.

In a situation where Saudi government and peoples make millions of dollars that go into Saudi pockets every year from the Mecca Hajj, it is significant that Turki al Fasal does not appeal to God or faith in his explanations but to his own country’s sovereignty and the privilege of his people – his fellow Saudis! In view of the fact that Mr. Turki al Faisal may be giving sovereignty to his fellow Saudis over God and may be giving privileges to his people over fellow Muslims in other countries, it is legitimate to ask what sovereignty means.

So the question is: sovereignty of whom and for whom? Privilege of whom and for whom? Privilege and sovereignty of and for an earthly secular power – the Saudi state and its theocratic monarchy? Or that of the living divine God? It is my hope that the mortals – earthly and hand made princes and princesses (holding desperately on to earthly feudal privileges) – of the Saudi monarchy are not arrogating the power of God to themselves. This is an issue that should concern Muslims globally. Given the periodic loss of Nigerian lives during these pilgrimages, the Saudi arrogance should also be of concern to Nigerian Muslims.

In the face of the massive deaths of fellow human, the Saudi statement – from an ordinary mortal who is arrogating the authority of God to the private and class interests of an idle and anachronistic feudal class – is irreligious and insensitive.

Therefore, common sense, religious ethics and the spirituality of faith in one living God require that Mr. Turki withdraws such unacceptable statement before a global audience and apologise – to fellow human beings, both Muslims and non-Muslims – for substituting his country’s sovereignty for God’s authority.

Going by the economic gains and political influence, which the Saudis and their government derive from the pilgrimage, the Saudi statement represents an apprehension of the possibility of a loss of economic resources and political power and a defence of an earthly political ego. The common rationalisation that those who die in such pilgrimages go to Al’jana – (heaven) is a cynical mockery of God and a maligning of his words. Hiding under this – the way it is often done – can never cure the Saudi’s statement of its badness.

Therefore, common sense, religious ethics and the spirituality of faith in one living God require that Mr. Turki withdraws such unacceptable statement before a global audience and apologise – to fellow human beings, both Muslims and non-Muslims – for substituting his country’s sovereignty for God’s authority.

The Saudi feudal and theocratic class ought to know that this is 21st century and not the medieval period where self-made Kings, queens and princes held sway over the fate of common folks.

Oversight of holy places belongs to God and his people in all countries and not to a Saudi feudal class masquerading under religion and afraid of losing economic and political privileges.

Adeolu Ademoyo, aaa54@cornell.edu, is of the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.