MOUNT ARAFAT: Muslim leaders must strike the enemies of Islam with “an iron hand”, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti said in his Haj sermon on Friday, in apparent condemnation of the Islamic State (IS) group.

Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh’s comments came after Saudi Arabia and four other Arab countries joined the United States in air strikes against the IS militants in Syria.

Speaking to pilgrims from around the world, the grand mufti called upon Muslim leaders to “hit with an iron hand the enemies of Islam”.

The IS group has declared a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, where they have committed a spate of atrocities including crucifixions and beheadings.

“Your religion is threatened. Your security is threatened,” he said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

“These criminals carry out rapes, bloodshed and looting,” he said, adding that “these vile crimes can be considered terrorism” and their perpetrators had nothing to do with Islam.

“They are tyrants,” he said, war­ning of “their deviant ideology”.

He spoke from Nimrah Mosque at Mount Arafat. Close to two million Muslims were gathered there at the peak of Haj.

The grand mufti said that enemies were trying to spread “chaos and confusion” in Muslim countries.

Muslim leaders urged to crush militants with an ‘iron hand’

“Oh Muslim peoples, your countries have been entrusted to you, so safeguard your security and stability, your gains, your resources and public projects,” he said in his televised address.

“And know that you are targeted by your enemies who want to tear your ranks, turn your hearts against each other and spread chaos and confusion and beware of their conspiracies,” he remarked.

The mufti’s comments, similar to his sermon last year, came in the context of widespread revulsion towards the IS group.

In August, he urged Muslim youths not to be influenced by “calls for jihad ... on perverted principles,” and he described Al Qaeda and IS militants as “enemy number one” of Islam. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said the Haj had attracted about 1.4 million pilgrims from 163 nations.

Local media reported that several hundred thousand Saudis were also participating, pushing the total towards two million. Security forces were deployed en masse across Mount Arafat and its plains to organise the wave of humanity. The number of pilgrims appeared lower than past years following a crackdown by authorities on people without permits, more than 145,000 of whom had been turned away, the SPA said.

Published in Dawn, October 4th , 2014