Around 1 million Iranians crossed the border in Mehran to observe the Arafa prayer, famously ascribed to the Third Shia Imam Hussein (as), an Iraqi official told reporters on Sunday. Iranians also pay homage to Shia sacred shrines in different cities of Iraq.
On Sunday, Egyptian media as well as Al-Azhar Institute’s statement covering the inaccurate story of the fatwa by Ayatollah Khamenei incited a response by Iran’s Interest Section in Cairo rejecting the story as baseless; “no such fatwa has ever been issued by the Leader’s office; hajj is an Islamic ritual and should be observed only in the Mecca; the Islamic Republic of Iran had exhausted every possibility as well as its diplomatic efforts to make possible for Iranians to attend the hajj rituals of 2016, to which Saudis responded with inaction and hatred, politicizing the very religious issue, along with their systematic evasion of their responsibilities in proper hosting of the pilgrims of the Sacred Shrines; the conduct had been unfair and resorted to media propaganda in shifting the blame on Iran,” said the statement by Iran’s Interests Section in Cairo.
“The mass media should accurately and unbiasedly communicate the events and news to the public; they should not forget their inherent duty of valuing human lives and innocent civilians as part of their professional career,” it concluded.
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