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The 1987 massacre of Iranian pilgrims occurred on July 31, 1987. It arose from escalating tensions between Shiite Iran and Wahabbi Saudi Arabia. Image File history File links Circle-question-red. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shi‘as (the adjective in Arabic is شيعى shi‘i; English has traditionally used Shiite) which mean follower in Arabic make up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%-35% of all Muslim. ... Wahhabism (sometimes spelled Wahabbism or Wahabism) is a movement of Islam named after Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703–1792). ...

Background

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During the period 1979-1987, Iran sought to politicize hajj rituals, while Saudis insisted that hajj was a personal experience of worship. After 1979 takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, there were charges of Iranian involvement in the incident. Iran called for overthrow of House of Saud in 1981, and this lead to clashes during the hajj pilgrimage. In 1986, Saudi security forces discovered arms and explosives smuggled in by Iranian pilgrims^[1]. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... This article is about the city in Saudi Arabia. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

For years, Iranian pilgrims had tried to stage peaceful political demonstrations so called "Distancing Ourselves from Moshrekin" ( برائت از مشرکين) in the Muslim holy city of Mecca during the hajj.^[2] A man carries a sign at the September 24, 2005 anti-war protest, a demonstration in Washington, D.C. American Civil Rights March on Washington, leaders marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... This article is about the city in Saudi Arabia. ... Traditionally, pilgrims travel to Mecca in groups with their friends or family, or people from their local mosque as an expression of unity. ...

Hostility of Saudi Arabia toward Iranians has a long history. King Khalid of Saudi Arabia for example wrote to Saddam to "crush these stupid Iranians" (این ایرانیهای احمق را له کنید) as Saddam pushed on with the invasion of Iranian territory.^[3] It has often been claimed that Iraq recruited non-Iraqi Arabs during the war to balance the far superior number of Iranian forces on the ground.^[4] Khalid bin Abdul Aziz (Arabic: خالد بن عبد العزيز ; b. ...

The history of hostility of Sunni Arabs to Shia Iranians dates to several centuries back. In 1943, a Saudi religious judge ordered an Iranian pilgrim beheaded for allegedly defiling the Great Mosque with excrement supposedly carried into the mosque in his pilgrim's garment. ^[5] There was also a clash in 1981 in Mecca and Medina between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi police. Khalid compiled a revealing letter of protest to Khomeini, asking that Khomeini urge his followers to show restraint but strongly hinting that the Great Mosque had been defiled by blasphemous Iranian pilgrims. According to Khalid, Iranian pilgrims in the Great Mosque had performed their ritual circumambulations while chanting "God is great, Khomeini is great", and "God is one, Khomeini is one." There was no need for Khalid to elaborate on this charge. It was obvious that the Iranians' slogans constituted an excessive veneration of their Imam, a form of blasphemous polytheism. All this had aroused the "dissatisfaction and disgust" of other pilgrims, wrote Khalid to Khomeini. In fact, Khalid's letter distorted well-known Iranian revolutionary slogans. Iranian pilgrims had actually chanted "God is great, Khomeini is leader." The Saudis had confused the Persian word for "leader" (rahbar) with the rhyming Arabic for "great" (akbar). The pilgrims� Arabic chant declared that "God is one, Khomeini is leader." Here, the Saudis had confused the Arabic for "one" (wahid) with the rhyming Arabic for "leader" (qa'id). There was a vast difference between the slogans as actually chanted by the Iranians, and the inadvertent or deliberate misrepresentations of Khalid. In the actual slogans, Khomeini is cast as a leader unrivaled in the world, but subordinate to an almighty God. In the slogans as reported by the Saudis, Khomeini is placed on one plane with God, a verbal pollution of Islam's holiest sanctuary. It was this familiar but disguised charge of Shiite defilement which the Saudis sought to level at Iran's pilgrims. The accusation gained credibility from the formerly widespread Sunni conviction that the Shi�ites are bound to pollute the Great Mosque.^[6] Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... Masjid al Haram Al-Masjid al-HÌ£arām (Arabic: ‎ The Sacred Mosque), is a large mosque in the city of Mecca. ... This article is about the city in Saudi Arabia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Masjid al Haram Al-Masjid al-HÌ£arām (Arabic: ‎ The Sacred Mosque), is a large mosque in the city of Mecca. ...

In 1990s and 2000s Iranian pilgrims have continued their peaceful annual demonstration. They confined their rally to within the confines of their compound in Mecca.

Riots

On Friday July 31, 1987, a demonstration by Iranian pilgrims against the "enemies of Islam" (including the US and Israel), erupted into fighting between the demonstrators and Saudi security forces. The violence by the demonstrators led to shooting by the police which culminated in a stampede of the pilgrims. Saudi Arabia reported 402 people were killed (275 Iranians, 85 Saudis including policemen, and 45 pilgrims from other countries) and 649 wounded (303 Iranians, 145 Saudis, and 201 other nationalities)^[7]. July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... United States may refer to: Places: United States of America SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built. ...

In his message to the pilgrims before the demonstration, Khomeini included the customary plea to pilgrims that they avoid clashes, insults, and disputes, and warned against those intent on disruption who might embark on spontaneous moves.^[8]

Immediately following the riot, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Muslims to avenge the pilgrims' deaths by overthrowing the Saudi royal family. The Saudi government blamed the riot on the Iranian pilgrims and claimed that the Iranian pilgrim riot had been part of a plot to destabilize their rule. Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Mosavi Khomeini ( ) (Persian: روح الله موسوی خمینی RÅ«ollāh MÅ«savÄ« KhomeynÄ« Arabic: روح الله الموسوي الخميني) (May 17, 1900[1] – June 3, 1989) was a Shi`i Muslim cleric and marja (religious authority), and the political leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi... The House of Saud ( translit: ) is the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

When news of the riot and deaths reached Iran the following day, mobs attacked the Kuwaiti and Saudi embassies in Tehran, the two countries that were allied with Iraq in its war against Iran.^[6] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The following day, over a million Iranians gathered in Tehran calling for the overthrow of the sheikh of Saudi Arabia. For other uses, see Sheikh (disambiguation). ...

The massacre happened when there was increasing pressure on Iran from Arab countries and the United States. A few days before (July 1987) the massacre of Iranian pilgrims by Saudi police, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian Airliner, killing 290 civilians. One and a half month before (April 1987) that US Navy sinks sank two Iranian warships (frigates) and as many as six armed Iranian speedboats. Three month before (March 1987) the event, Saddam Hossein killed about 20000 Iranian soldiers immediately using nerve-gas agents. Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655) was a commercial flight operated by Iran Air that flew from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai. ...

See also

• enemy of Islam

Enemies of Islam is a label applied to proponents of the secular school of thought by mullahs and their supporters in the Islamic Republic of Iran[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, it is also used elsewhere. ...

References & notes

1. ↑  "Iranian Official Urge 'Uprooting' of Saudi Royalty", The New York Times, August 3, 1987
2. ↑  "Gulf Tensions Rise", The New York Times, August 2, 1987

The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ...

External links

• Khomeini's Messengers in Mecca, political rivalries behind the 1987 bloodshed, by Martin Kramer

• Carnage in Mecca