Amid the ongoing covid crisis worldwide, Saudi Arab is all set to reopen the city of Mecca for hajj pilgrims. Saudi Arab is all set to welcome the muslim pilgrims into their state. When the world has still not recovered from corona virus and daily cases are recording high surges, this decision of Saudi Arab is extremely irresponsible neglecting its share of collective international responsibility.

image source: google

When the World health organization is advising and constantly pressurizing each and every nation to practice the norms of social distancing, this move of Saudi Arabia has come to receive harsh criticism from all across the world. As Mecca receives its pilgrims from all around the globe and various countries, it is deliberately putting the entire world to the risk of another shock wave of covid. When an international advisory has already been released to not conduct huge gatherings and assemblage, Saudi is planning to organize a religious pilgrimage that shall have around ten thousand attendees from approx every nation. Seventy percent of the total crowd shall be outsiders while remaining thirty would be the national citizens of Saudi.

Although, Saudi has already made it clear that sanitization of the site and deep cleaning is going on and the administration shall be taking care to avoid every casualty to prevent spread of covid through hajj, but the suspection having potential threat of covid cannot be neglected as its total number of cases arose from mere lakhs to crore even when entire world was under lockdown. Won’t it be absurd to presume that it cannot make its way to a gathering of thousands? How can any level of intense disinfectants or sterilization can prevent a contagious virus when pilgrims shall be touching and kissing the kaba stone?

image source: google

What’s so necessary that cannot be avoided and Saudi Arab is obstinate much to conduct the hajj? There are two possible reasons as for now making their way towards front. Earlier the Saudi Arab government thought of opening the site to only local pilgrims but the greed exceeds every else priority and responsibility. Saudi Arab generates and earn quite a fortune through the conduction of hajj pilgrimage and it doesn’t want to let go of its millions of revenue which shall escalate its economy when every other nation is experiencing a collapse with the same. Of course to satiate its desire for funds which the nation shall be making when thousands of people would be visiting it surpasses any other religious intention disguised as to facilitate the noble cause to let people practice their faith depended upon Saudi.

Another possible reason is the extremity and rabid superiority the islamists are tend to believe and practice in every corner of the world. They use to believe and want to make sure that no other priority or advisory must be treated or followed above their religious values. Their religious beliefs and faith always rules out their sense of rationality. A recent example can be taken from India itself where islamist fanatics treated covid as an opportunity rather than a common threat, believing that it won’t be harming them and shall target only the non believers or the kafirs, and because of such credence the Tablighi jamat incident happened and the chaos which took place afterwards is the history. The nation is still paying a huge price for such stupidity. And the group then resorts shamelessly preaching intolerance to others.

Saudi Arab highly comprises of such fundamentalists. Doesn’t want to postpone or cancel the hajj for the possible reasons described above. Now the nations worldwide are left with four choices. First is to not allowing their muslim  citizens to leave the national border to attend the hajj but this can create chaos as those people always have a victim card ready that their own government is always trying to persecute them because of their faith. Second is to allow them to take part in Hajj but not accepting them back until they quarantine themselves for fifteen days outside the national borers necessary to protect the entire non muslim population of countries. This scheme too has a drawback as nation can attain a tag of being biased pr discriminatory towards Muslims again because of their faith (they’re obsessed with their idea of religion). Third option seems more convenient if nations are willing to put health of the population at stake to proteact their international humanitarian image which might be destroyed by islamist propaganda. That is to simply be prepared to witness a huge curve in their national corona graph once the pilgrims return.

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