Hajj Fudge

Despite this year's Hajj death toll, a true believer finds a silver lining (scroll down; it's the final letter of the day):

Hajj a moment of unity

Re: Muslim Nations Tally Hajj Casualties, Sept. 26.The hajj pilgrimage is performed during the Muslim month of Dhul Hijjah, two months after the festival of Eid-Al-Fitr. It is a unique event that holds paramount historical significance in Islam with the Ka’ba, which was rebuilt by Prophet Abraham 4,000 years ago to pray in. 

Now, it stands in the middle of a large courtyard of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, with thousands of Muslims gathered around it in a unified manner, regardless of colour, creed, nationality or any other factors. When Muslims are killing Muslims, and Muslims can’t agree on fundamental Islamic teachings, this kind of unity is needed most. I hope this year’s pilgrimage instills that sense of unity in Islam that is so badly needed.
Saba Sadiq, Calgary.

And, hey, what are the lives of a few hundred pilgrims trampled to death while fulfilling one of the fundamental obligations of their faith so long as those who manage to survive and those who didn't go can feel good for a time about Islamic "unity" (an even bigger chimera than that much-vaunted "two-state solution)?

You know how in the U.S. the cry is "Black Lives Matter"? In Saudi Arabia, site of the Ka'ba, the cry is "Muslim lives don't matter (because if you're killed during Hajj, it's Allah's will and has nothing to do with our feckless mechanisms for crowd control)."

 How is that supposed to instill a "sense of unity in Islam"?