As bad news from Saudi Arabia continues to grab headlines around the world many people are starting to question the Kingdom’s significant role as “guardians of Islam and the Muslim world”.





Debates about Muslims and Hajj performance in Saudi Arabia have been dominating large part of the Muslim world. Between calls to boycott hajj and highlighting its obligation as one of the pillars of Islam; opinions are divided.

It has all started a couple of years ago, when Saudi Arabia started charging Muslims huge amounts of money to perform the hajj. This year, Muslims had to pay around $2000 per person to be able to perform hajj in Mecca.

Read More: Pay-to-Pray: Is Saudi Arabia Exploiting Hajj 'Taxes' for Profit?

Later on, Saudi Arabia has led a war in Yemen in which tens of thousands of Yemenis died and millions others are living one of the worst famines in decades - and it is still ongoing. This has also spurred on the debate on boycotting Saudi Arabia and stop providing large portions of money to the Saudi government since it might be used for the war in Yemen.

On top of this, the latest news about Khashoggi’s murder and the ambiguity that surrounds it have also raised grievances. Fingers of accusations in killing Khashoggi have been pointed toward Saudi Arabia and Al Saud while they are providing conflicted narratives on the matter.

Meanwhile for Muslims, Saudi Arabia has long been the custodians of the two holy mosques; Mecca and Madinah, where Muslims go for pilgrimage.

Activists have been calling Muslims to boycott performing umrah - the optional pilgrimage, and hajj-the obligatory pilgrimage. Some argued that a significant reduction in number of visitors to the holy places will powerfully affect Al Saud and their government.

While there is a perception growing among Muslims that Saudi Arabia is exploiting the custodianship of the two holy mosques for its own political purposes, others believe the wrongdoings of Saudi Arabia are not a reason to boycott performing one of the central pillars of Islam.