Top Saudi cleric advocates 'martyrdom' Mecca's religious leader marks annual pilgrimage with call for victory or death
With the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, or hajj, beginning today, the imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque, the holiest shrine in Islam, prayed yesterday for Islamic "victory or martyrdom" in its war against unnamed foes.
It was his final sermon before an estimated two million Muslims participate in the annual pilgrimage – a requirement of Islam.
According to a report by Agence France-Presse, Sheikh Saud al-Shraim admonished the Muslim pilgrims: "Strong believers are not scared of death regardless of how loud the enemies beat the drums [of war]. Believers are aware that life has a limit and that the Almighty controls our destiny ... They should expect either victory or martyrdom, both of which should be sought."
The giant mosque and all roads leading to it were filled with participating Muslims, said the report.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, echoed al-Shraim's words yesterday in published remarks accusing "enemies of Islam" of working to undermine the Islamic nation. "The Islamic ummah [nation] is facing many challenges from its enemies," he said in the AFP account, challenges that include "fighting against the Islamic faith, the ummah's foundations, principles, values, economy and culture."
The mufti added, provocatively, "They aim at containing this nation." A central facet of Islam is that it must spread over the entire earth and ultimately be embraced worldwide.
Saudi Arabia's top leaders are in Mecca to oversee the massive pilgrimage, including King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.
Islamic clerics calling for "jihad" against Jews or Americans is not uncommon – such as Sheik Abu Hamza, affiliated with London's Finsbury Park mosque, who was recently caught on tape exhorting an audience to kill non-believers or sell them into slavery – or the Arafat-appointed mufti of Jerusalem, Sheik 'Ikrima Sabri, who praised and encouraged Palestinian children to become homicidal "martyrs." Typically, defenders of mainstream Islam claim these are extremist views and unrelated to peaceful Muslim beliefs. But yesterday's calls for the faithful to seek "martyrdom" came from the highest Islamic religious authorities in Saudi Arabia.
Also, the Bush administration has raised the national terror alert from yellow to orange, the second-highest level, citing an increased likelihood of a massive al-Qaida attack on Americans. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a Justice Department news conference the decision to raise the terror alert level was based on intelligence warnings pointing to a possible al-Qaida attack timed to coincide with the "hajj" pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which begins today and ends mid-February.
