In a speech in Tehran on Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei touched on the annual congregation of Hajj, which brings together and unites Muslims from different parts of the world irrespective of their race, color, and culture.
“The Hajj gathering is for the benefit of humanity and there is no benefit for the Islamic Ummah greater than unity,” he told officials and organizers of the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, which able Muslims must make at least once in their lifetime.
“If the Islamic Ummah were united, the issues of Palestine and Gaza would not happen and Yemen would not be pressured like this,” the Leader added.
Gaza is the target of a brutal campaign of aggression by Israel which has killed nearly 53,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory since October 2023 and left it in total ruin.
US, UK and Israeli warplanes have been launching deadly attacks against Yemen since March 15, when US President Donald Trump intensified the campaign that was started by the former administration last year to stop the Arab country’s operations against Israel in solidarity with Gazans.
Ayatollah Khamenei said division and discord paves the way for “the colonialists, the US, the Zionist regime, and other expansionists to impose their interests and ambitions” on other nations.
“With the unity of the Ummah, security, progress, and synergy among Islamic countries and their assistance to each other become possible,” the Leader said, adding the opportunity of Hajj should be viewed in this light.
Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the political aspect which underpins the role of Hajj, saying that “contrary to the efforts, words, and actions of some who tarnish it, the essence of Hajj is political, its form is political, and its composition is political”.
“Hajj perhaps is the only obligation whose outward form and appearance and its composition are 100 percent political,” the Leader said.
“Gathering people in one place, at one time, every year – everyone who can – the very essence of this gathering together is political.”
Far from being an ordinary pilgrimage and a sightseeing trip, the journey for Hajj is “participation in a very important practice that God Almighty has ordained for the management of humanity – not just the management of believers and Muslims, but for the management of humanity”, the Leader said.
“Hajj is for the administration of humanity. The true Hajj is a service to humanity – not just to yourself, your country and the Islamic Ummah; it is a service to humanity,” he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei touched on the prominent role and duty of Islamic governments, especially Saudi Arabia as the host of millions of pilgrims, in explaining the goals of Hajj.
State officials, scholars and intellectuals, writers, and influences also have an obligation to spell out the truths of Hajj to the people, the Leader added.
