Iranian Ayatollah Mohammadi Reyshahri led pilgrims at the Haj in chants against America and Israel today.
The Daily Mail reported:
The pilgrims will later move under the night sky to Muzdalifa to collect pebbles to stone a set of walls symbolising the devil.
Despite a ban on political activities at haj, a senior Iranian cleric gave a speech at Arafat to a group of pilgrims, who chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”, Iran’s state television showed.
Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri, head of Iran’s haj mission, told the pilgrims some Muslims had despaired “in the face of Western civilization’s onslaught” but that today there was a “resurgence of Islam”.
Hat Tip Banafsheh Zand Bonazzi
The “Death to America” rally was permitted because it was inside:
One of the features of the Haj was a rally held by thousands of Iranians, Lebanese, Iraqis and Bahrainis inside their tents to denounce the US and Israel.
Saudi Arabia had warned before the start of the pilgrimage that it would not tolerate any anti-US demonstrations, but the rally was apparently permitted because it stayed inside.
Ayatollah Reyshahri is famous for marrying the daughter of Ayatollah Ali Meshkini in 1968, when she was 9.
