Saudi Arabia’s top religious leader has taken responsibility off the shoulders of authorities in Mecca regarding the tragedy of Mina, claiming the incident was beyond human control.

In a Saturday meeting with Saudi Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh said the minister is not responsible for what happened and cannot therefore be blamed.

“As for the things that humans cannot control, you are not blamed for them … You are not responsible for what happened,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Al Sheikh as saying. Fate and destiny are inevitable, the mufti said.

Riyadh says more than 769 people were killed in the crush of pilgrims on September 24 in Mina valley, located a few miles away from the holy city of Mecca. Head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Sa’eed Ohadi, however, said Friday that nearly 2,000 people have lost their lives in the Mina tragedy.

Pilgrims blamed

Al Sheikh, who chairs the Shura Council, which is an appointed body advising the government, said pilgrims must stick to “the rules and regulations taken by the security personnel... In doing so they protect their lives, their security and facilitate their performing of the rituals.”

Pilgrims blame the deadly crush on police, who reportedly had closed two roads on the day the incident happened. They also point the finger at Saudi authorities who failed to adopt proper measures in handling the flow of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in high temperatures.

Serving the pilgrims?

In other remarks late on Friday carried by the SPA, Al Sheikh had called on citizens and Muslims to ignore “the biased campaigns” against Riyadh’s management of the Hajj event, saying they are meant to “question the great efforts exerted by the kingdom to serve the holy sites, their construction and expansion, and to serve the visitors and pilgrims.”

This year’s pilgrimage saw a host of incidents, with 109 people killed in the collapse of a giant crane in the Grand Mosque days before the ritual started. On Friday, Egyptian pilgrims stationed in Mina reported a fire in their tents, although no official casualties were reported. Two hotel fires had also earlier been reported.

Shouldering responsibility

Riyadh has been urged to accept responsibility with regards to the incidents and adopt measures to ensure safety of the pilgrims.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called on the Saudi government to take responsibility of the deadly incident in Mina.

“The Saudi government is obligated to shoulder its heavy responsibility in this bitter incident and meet its obligations in compliance with the rule of righteousness and fairness. Mismanagement and improper measures that were behind this tragedy should not be overlooked,” the Leader said on the day of the tragedy.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday also urged Saudi rulers “to ensure a comprehensive and thorough exercise that will identify any flaws in hajj organization.”

Iran and Morocco, with 136 and 87 pilgrims killed respectively, recorded the highest number of fatalities, while Nigeria, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Netherlands also reported deaths.