Perhaps the unthinkable idea of massacring pilgrims in the haram of Makkah during the sacred days of Hajj could take shape only in the heads of the Zionists or C.I.A. officials. The former due to his deep-seated hostility of Islam and its sanctities, and the latter due to his absolute insensibility to any kind of sanctity whatsoever (except perhaps that of U.S. interests) and both on account of their being devoid of scruples or trepidation with regard to crime and atrocity no matter how serious or heinous.

This does not mean that the Saudis are any less unscrupulous than their masters or allies, for their entire history, from the beginning, to those who know it, speaks of their hostility towards Islam - i.e. real Islam, not the 'Islam' formulated in the Colonial Office of the British empire and the U.S.- made 'Islam' of which the Saudis are the incontestable representatives, and most deservedly so. However, despite their evil mission in the Islamic world, the Saudis have lived and moved around among Muslims. They were expected to know better than their masters of the terrible risks involved in such a venture, for they certainly have some idea of the sanctity of the Haram and the inviolate character of the holy months and the sanctity of a pilgrim's blood in Islam and in the eyes of Muslims.

But fear and hatred had made them blind; the fear of a resurgent Islam and the prospect of losing their domination over a strategic region had paralysed their senses to such an extent that they could not see the suicidal nature of their atrocity. The message of Imam Khumayni to the Hajj pilgrims was the final unnerving blow, and the terror it created in their hearts made them utterly blind to the consequences.

The result was the most horrendous atrocity perhaps in the entire history of mankind: the most barbarian massacre of the guests of the Beneficent Lord in His Haram, His Sanctuary, in a haram month. The place and the occasion of the atrocity and the identity of its victims, all multiply the magnitude of the crime, making a more serious crime unthinkable. If this most horrific atrocity of all time does not awaken the conscience of the Muslim Ummah and move it to immediate action, nothing will. And those who remain silent at this atrocity will taste at least some of the bitter and imminent Divine punishment that awaits the culprits.

Two days remained for the Hajj rites to begin. It was Friday, the 6th of Dhu al-Hijjah,1407 (July 3i, 1987) and the people had gathered at the appointed time, 4:30 p.m., for the rally which had been held every year since the Islamic Revolution, and every time with the knowledge and reluctant permission of Saudi authorities. The locale and time of the rally and its route had been determined after consultations between Iranian Hajj officials and the Saudi authorities. After the usual speech of Shaykh Mahdi Karrubi, the Imam's representative for Hajj, who has been leading Iranian pilgrims for some years, the pilgrims started moving along the specified route in a disciplined manner (habitual for Iranians who have been holding millions-strong rallies during the last decade) chanting certain fixed slogans authorized by the Hajj officials, such as: "Down with the U.S., U.S.S.R. and Israel," "O Muslims of the world unite!" (Iranian pilgrims have been advised all along the past years to refrain from such slogans as the Saudis may find annoying and provocative, even slogans against the Ba'thist regime of Iraq. Of course, the Saudis are as much dismayed by slogans against the U.S. and Israel, but they dare not admit it.) It has been named "Bara'ah Rally" or "Unity Rally", since its purpose is to declare bara 'ah with mushrikun and call the Muslim Ummah to unity. They also carried banners and placards with similar slogans and pictures of Imam Khumayni — the symbols of Islamic resistance against global paganism. Among them there were tens of thousands of women and the disabled of war on wheelchairs — the latter being known in Iran as "Janbazan-e Inqilab", the living martyrs of the Revolution. As in previous years, the rally was surrounded on both sides by several rows of Saudi policemen and security forces.

At 6:40 p.m. when the rally was approaching its culmination point, the 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr Street, from where they were to disband, collect the placards and banners and prepare for the maghrib prayers, the Saudi police advanced from its positions several meters away to take a military position facing the front line of the rally. They started the assault first by pushing the people and beating them with batons. Soon the attack commenced on all sides and the pilgrims were assaulted with iron bars, nailed sticks, and maces. Simultaneously from the tops of the tall adjoining buildings, policemen in plain clothes started throwing big stones, bottles, pieces of broken glass, pieces of concrete and boiling water on the heads of the people, wounding many and killing some instantly. The horrified and defenceless pilgrims rushed into alleys in which Saudi security men awaited their turn to attack the pilgrims. Within few minutes the entire rally of a hundred thousand pilgrims was encircled tightly by the armed police and security men who attacked the rally ferociously. Now machine guns also joined the brutal crescendo and sprayed the people with dum-dum bullets from many sides and shells of suffocating gas were thrown into the crowd. All the nearby alleys and passages were barred by armed policemen and there was practically no way of escape left. Some time during this horrific carnage Jordanian and Palestinian pilgrims opened the doors of their buildings on the pilgrims seeking refuge from the inferno in the street, thus saving many lives.

In this carnage, which lasted for an hour, more than four hundred pilgrims (324 from Iran) were killed and more than four thousand were wounded. Most of the martyrs and the wounded were women and the disabled on wheelchairs, for they were towards the front of the rally where the assault began and was most savage. More than a hundred people had died of bullet wounds and others from other kind of injuries. Dozens of the martyrs were disfigured beyond identification due to head injuries caused by rocks and maces.

Although the majority of those who participated in the rally were Iranian pilgrims, there were also many from other countries, who had joined the rally despite the warnings cried from Saudi loudspeakers.

The carnage was well planned in advance. The Saudi authorities, unlike the previous years, had ordered all shops along the route of the rally to be closed. It was also unusual that loudspeakers warned the pilgrims of other nationalities against taking part in the rally. One day before, all hospitals in Makkah were ordered not to accept any wounded Iranian. Stones and bricks had been stored on the top of buildings for the occasion. Unlike the past years, Saudi drivers were not allowed to disrupt the rally with their cars. In fact this year no car was visible in the entire area. The Saudi propaganda machinery was fully prepared to launch their propaganda assault soon after the carnage.

Yet despite their preparedness, the horrific dimensions of the carnage baffled the official machinery. Immediately after the incident the Saudi Interior Ministry had announced that 19 Iranian and 6 non Iranian pilgrims were killed in, what were called, clashes between two groups of Muslims. Obviously the attempt was to make the carnage appear as a clash between Iranian Shi'i and Sunni Muslims. It was said that the casualties resulted from stampede and "not a single shot was fired". The Saudis also declared that the rally was un-Islamic and illegal and was brought out without the permission of Saudi authorities. From the next day, the imperialist media showed great interest in Islamic law and discussed what was wrong to do on the holy occasion of Hajj; with great interest they discussed the imaginary differences between Shi'i and Sunni views of Islam and taught Muslims to keep religion out of politics and politics out of religion! Obviously it was illogical for the Saudis to admit that the rally was staged with their permission when they declared that it was un-Islamic to stage political demonstrations on the holy occasion of Hajj! They also pretended as if it was the first time that the Iranians had held the rally during the Hajj days! They alleged that Iranian pilgrims carried knives hidden in their garb of ihram and that they attacked policemen and set fire to cars and vehicles. They claimed that the demonstrators planned to take over the Holy Ka'bah, that they intended to explode it and set it on fire or to transfer the Ka'bah to Qumm in Iran! They alleged that the demonstrators were members of the Iranian Basij (volunteer forces) and the Revolutionary Guard Corps and came with the intent to create trouble during Hajj. It was even claimed that the trouble started when Iranians beheaded a Saudi policeman and carried his head on a spear! How badly the Saudis needed these lies after the incident of July 31.

At last when it became evident to the whole world that the Saudis did fire on the pilgrims, it was claimed that the police had to use fire arms after the Iranian pilgrims attacked them. Unable to conceal the scope of the carnage they had to admit, in a subsequent statement, that 409 had died and that 649 were injured.

The next day many pilgrims from other countries who had not witnessed the carnage and were away from the site of the incident read the Saudi version of the story in the newspapers which were printed in large numbers in different languages and distributed free among the pilgrims. But the Saudi cover-up could not last for ever. The Palestinians and the Jordanians had seen it with their unbelieving eyes. Many from Algeria, U.A.E., Iraq, Bahrain, India and Afghanistan had seen it. Muslims from the U.K., the U.S., South Africa, Canada, and Pakistan had seen it. There were eye-witnesses from almost every country who had been shocked and shaken as much by the atrocity as by the lies and insults of the Saudi press and government. They had seen the real face of the Saudi rulers and of their masters and allies. Above all,the people of Arabia had seen it and knew better to believe the concocted film put on Saudi television.

The dead and the wounded lay on the pavements of the streets and alleys of Makkah, and the Saudi authorities did nothing to rescue the wounded who lay bleeding from their wounds. The first Iranian ambulance which appeared on the scene was brutally attacked; its screens were broken by the police of the "Keepers of the Holy Cities"; its medical staff was attacked and its driver was killed. The dead and the wounded were gathered together from the streets by bulldozers. In one case, an Iranian physician who had been badly injured was found to be alive among the corpses at the mortuary and then transferred for medical care. Iranian officials were barred from entering hospitals and hampered from identifying the wounded and the dead.

It is impossible to imagine anything uglier than those atrocities of the Saudis on that Friday in Makkah, and their atrocious lies, carried by their propaganda in the wake of the carnage was as ugly. Such is the punishment of those who oppose Islam and God and trample upon the laws of the Holy Quran. Such is the hideousness of those who collaborate with Israel and serve the Arch-Satan and follow his commands and execute his plots. Such are the deeds of the enemies of the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the aspirations and hopes of the peoples of the Islamic world and the Third World nations.

The hideous incident of Makkah, despite its monstrous nature, is very revealing. It reveals the real character of the U.S. and its stooges. Soon after, the Hasan of Morocco, the Husayn of Jordan, the Mubarak of Egypt and the bloodthirsty Saddam cabled their congratulations to Fahd and declared their solidarity with the Saudis. Their messages to the Saudi rulers unmasked completely their devilish faces. The carnage of Makkah also revealed the character of the world press and mass media, and also gave an opportunity to independent journalists to prove their integrity and reveal their conscientious character.

The event of Makkah puts great responsibility on the shoulders of all Muslims of the world, specially the 'ulama' and intellectuals, and calls them to rally to the support of the sanctities of Islam. It was not just the right to life of a few hundred women and men that was violated at Makkah in the Haram in a haram month; it was the very sanctity of God Almighty that was challenged and atrociously violated by the arch-criminals of history. It was the most serious crime against God that could be imagined, and indeed the devastating punishment of the criminals and their collaborators is not far off.

O "Keepers of the Ka'bah" and the "Servants of the Hujjaj", you have indeed surpassed yourselves and your ancestors by this act:

It was soon after the carnage that Shaykh Mahdi Karrubi, the Imam's representative, cabled his message of condolence to Imam Khumayni and informed him of the acts of the Saudis and their peculiar style of hospitality. The following message of the Imam was sent in reply to this cable. ¹

[*] This article appeared in "Al-Tawhid, A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought & Culture", Vol 5 No. 1 (Muharram - Rabi al -'Awwal, 1408 AH). Published by: The Foundation of Islamic Thought.

[1.]This message was printed in the same journal after the above piece.