1987 Mecca incident

The 1987 Mecca massacre, also known as the 1987 Mecca Riot, occurred on July 31, 1987. It arose from escalating tensions between Shia Iran and Wahabbi Saudi Arabia. The riots started as demonstrations by Iranian pilgrims, but escalated to a violent confrontation between the Iranian pilgrims and Saudi guards, resulting in a deadly stampede. The total death toll was reported by Saudi officials to be 402 people: 275 Iranian pilgrims, 85 Saudi guards and 42 pilgrims from other countries.

History

For years, Iranian pilgrims had tried to stage peaceful demonstrations so called "Distancing Ourselves from Mushrikīn" ( برائت از مشرکين) in the Muslim holy city of Mecca during the hajj.

Hostility of Saudi Arabia toward Iranians has a long history. King Khalid of Saudi Arabia for example wrote to Saddam Hussein to "crush these stupid Iranians" as Saddam pushed on with the invasion of Iranian territory. 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.

The history of hostility between Wahhabis and Shiites dates several decades. In 1943, an Iranian pilgrim was beheaded for allegedly defiling the Masjid al-Haram (Great Mosque). There was also a clash in 1981 in Mecca and Medina between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi police. Saudi Wahabis believed that the Shiites would "pollute the Great Mosque".

Subsequently, King Khalid of Saudi Arabia in a letter to Ruhollah Khomeini, accused the Iranian pilgrims of blasphemy, claiming they had chanted "God is Great, Khomeini is great", and "God However, , Khalid had in fact distorted the Iranian pilgrims's chant which was one of the well-known Iranian revolutionary slogans, "God is Great, Khomeini is leader." The Arabic-speaking Saudis may have confused the [[Persian language|Persian word] for "leader" (rahbar) with the rhyming Arabic for "great" (akbar).

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.

Demonstrations

Memorial and Tombs of Victims in Iran

On Friday July 31, 1987, a demonstration by Iranian pilgrims against the "enemies of Islam" (including the U.S. and Israel), escalated to fights between demonstrators and Saudi security forces. The police opened fire against the demonstrators and that led to a stampede of the pilgrims. Saudi authorities reported 402 dead (275 Iranians, 85 Saudis including policemen, and 42 pilgrims from other countries) and 649 wounded (303 Iranians, 145 Saudis and 201 other nationals).

Prior to the demonstration, Khomeini sent a message to the pilgrims urging them to remain peaceful and avoid clashes.

Immediately following the demonstrations, 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.

When news of the riot and the casualties 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.^[3] The following day, over a million Iranians gathered in Tehran calling for the overthrow of the regime in Saudi Arabia.

See also

• Shi'a–Sunni relations
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

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

External links

• Carnage in Mecca
• Khomeini’s Messengers in Mecca