Aussie Muslims joining global calls to boycott annual Hajj

Next month more than two million Muslims from around the world are expected to descend on the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

But a growing number of Muslims, including some in Australia, are turning their backs on what is one of the central pillars of Islam, and calling for a boycott of the event. Sydney-based aspiring filmmaker Faraaz Rahman says he believes going to Hajj at the present time is not morally responsible.

“Going for Hajj would financially contribute to the Saudi regime, which currently is carrying out mass atrocities in Yemen against fellow Muslims. This is not what the Hajj is meant to be about,” the 31-year-old told SBS News.

For able-bodied and financially able Muslims, going to the Hajj at least once in life is considered a religious obligation by many. But in April, Libya’s most famous Sunni Grand Mufti, Sadiq al-Gharawani, appealed to Muslims around the world to boycott the Hajj pilgrimage over Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses.

He is one of the most prominent Sunni Muslim leaders to call for the boycott, but he is far from alone.

The social media hashtag #BoycottHajj has trended on Twitter in some Muslim majority countries.

“Before there might have been fringe groups here and there, without any traction… but now prominent leaders are calling for it [boycott]. I hope that that leads to other religious authorities to pick up and make similar calls,” Mr Rahman said. Another Australian Muslim based in Melbourne, who didn’t want to be identified, said that while calling for a boycott of the Hajj was a drastic step, it was necessary.

“I believe there is no other option left for the Muslim people around the world than to boycott Saudi Arabia, to give them the message that this madness [in Yemen] should end,” he said.

“If the money is funnelling into the Saudi economy and that money is being utilised to imposing continuous misery on the people of Yemen, then people have a moral, religious obligation to stand up,” he said.

“The world has a responsibility to stand up, especially Muslims,” he added.

Saudi Arabia is the lead partner in a Coalition of forces involved in Yemen’s civil war. The United Nations has described Yemen’s humanitarian crisis as the worst in the world.

Ani Zonneveld, president of Muslims for Progressive Values, a United States-based organisation with around 10,000 members, said it was encouraging all Muslims to take up the boycott.

SBS News