Before anything else, Hardball must enter this caveat. Muslims and their beliefs are inviolate. This year’s tragedy does nothing to negate the Islamic holy injunctions for the Hajj, for who can afford it, at least once in a life time. It is one of the five pillars of Islam; and the faith is not about abandoning one of its fundamental pillars because of human negligence.
The kingdom and people of Saudi Arabia no doubt feel blessed to yearly be home to millions of Muslim faithful worldwide. It is a grave spiritual privilege that must be matched with no less secular responsibility, in pilgrim safety and security.
Mecca, Medina, Mina and allied sacred cities are only among the privileged few, among the globe’s holiest religious destinations, to which pilgrims flock every year. Even if the whole of the pilgrim population were to perish, that calamity would still not dull these cities’ appeal. Faith, after all, is a thing of the mind.
Besides, by Islamic belief, dying in Mecca during pilgrimage is religious bliss; for to the deceased would come additional blessings the living cannot boast, as (s)he enters Al-Jannah a privileged soul indeed. But it was never conceived as being crushed by cranes or being squashed in stampedes.
Which is why the Saudi authorities must take the blame for these twin-tragedies; and must wake up to their responsibilities.
By Allah, Nigeria has paid dearly for these man-made errors, in lost lives and crushed limbs. From the stampede, no fewer than 56 Nigerians — and still counting — out of a casualty figure of 769 so far have perished, many of them the cream of their generation.
The morbid list: Justice Abdulkadir Jega, presiding judge, Court of Appeal, Abuja, and brother to Prof. Attahiru Jega, former INEC chairman, Justice Musa Hassan Alkali, another Court of Appeal judge, Alhaji Abbas Ibrahim, the Panti Zing (traditional ruler of Zing, in Adamawa State) and Amirul Hajj (leader) of the Adamawa delegation, with two of his four wives, Prof. Tijani Abubakar El-Miskin, the famed Islamic scholar, Hajiya Bilikisu Yusuf, former editor of defunct Citizen magazine. And to think of the fate of Alhaji Bello Gidan-Hamma, former caretaker chairman of Illela Local Government of Sokoto State, with himself, mother, stepmother and two wives perishing in the stampede!
Pray, how can a nation lose such calibre of people, on a pilgrimage, just because the host country is remiss in its safety responsibility?
To worsen matters, a Saudi prince’s convoy is claimed to have caused the stampede; with another Saudi prince reportedly making a racist statement, blaming the dead for their own death! That is reprehensible and should not be tolerated.
Which is why Nigeria must lodge the sternest of protests to the Saudi government. Nigeria cannot stop its Muslims from Hajj. But it certainly can expect the Saudi government to appreciate the enormous responsibilities in pilgrims’ safety.
We can’t just sit back and mop in agony, while our compatriots die avoidable deaths because they are on pilgrimage — and let no one mouth any pious fatalism about Allah wanting it that way!
Allah’s will is one thing. Human negligence is another. This is why the Saudis must sit up. Enough of these harvests of needless deaths!
