The Qarmatians stole the Black Stone of the Kaaba and hid it for 22 years to prevent their Abbasid rivals from reaping the lucrative hajj proceeds.
Back then, as today, the conflict was not fundamentally a sectarian struggle. Today, Iran and Saudi Arabia are continuing the tradition of exchanging accusations of using the holy pilgrimage to serve their political interests.
Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of Mecca and chairman of the Saudi Pilgrimage Committee, attacked the Iranian government Sept. 14, saying it was exploiting the pilgrimage for political ends. “Preventing the politicization of the pilgrimage is essential for the best interests of Muslims," Faisal said. "If we give every party free rein to raise slogans and organize marches, how will people be able to perform pilgrimage?”
He also warned Iranians against carrying out any attack on Saudi Arabia. “If [Iranians] are readying an army to invade us, they should know that we are not to be diminished. We will not allow anyone to declare war on us whenever they wish to and with the help of God Almighty, we will deter every aggressor and defend this holy land and our beloved country,” he said.
A video recently went viral on Iranian social media threatening the Saudis that if the kingdom attacks Iran, Iranians will conquer Saudi Arabia and make Mecca their own capital.
In contrast, Iran claims that Saudi Arabia has been exploiting pilgrimage activities to spread and promote its political agenda and its bigoted understanding of Islam through the distribution to pilgrims in Mecca of booklets and pamphlets in different languages that incite against Shiites.
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