Ashraf Abo Arafe
For the third year, the Government of Qatar continues to practice the policy of “shuffling papers” to prevent Qatari citizens from performing Hajj, while Saudi Arabia is extending its arms to receive masses of Muslims from all over the world unconditionally.
Since 2017, following the boycott of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt for Qatar because of its support for terrorism and interference in the affairs of other countries, Doha resorted to placing all obstacles in front of Qatari pilgrims and those residing in its territory and prevented their access to the Holy Land despite Saudi efforts to overcome these obstacles to no avail.
At a time when the kingdom rejects the principle of politicizing the pilgrimage or involving political differences on that lofty occasion, Doha continues to jump on those principles and strives to block the arrival of its citizens to the kingdom for the performance of the fifth pillar of Islam.
In the late 1980s, after severing Saudi-Iranian relations, Tehran prevented its pilgrims from fulfilling the three-year mandate. In 2016, Iran also prevented its 80,000 pilgrims from performing rituals and refused to sign the arrangements for the Hajj with the Kingdom at the time.
