A Yemeni man was arrested in Mecca after performing a pilgrimage on behalf of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The pilgrim went viral after posting a video of himself, within Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, with a banner calling for God to accept the queen into heaven. The viral video was met by widespread outrage from Saudi netizens, who called for the man’s arrest over what they saw as a blasphemous action. Posters bearing any slogans are banned in the Grand Mosque, as are pilgrimages on behalf of non-Muslims, according to the Guardian.
A man was arrested in Mecca after performing Umrah pilgrimage on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, causing outrage online ? pic.twitter.com/hp6AjsCzcC
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 14, 2022
Before long, security forces at the Grand Mosque “arrested a resident of Yemeni nationality who appeared in a video clip carrying a banner inside the Grand Mosque, violating the regulations and instructions for umrah,” a statement from the police posted on Saudi state media said, according to the report. “He was arrested, legal measures were taken against him and he was referred to the public prosecution.”
SAUDI CITIZEN WHO HELPED ISRAELI JOURNALIST SNEAK INTO MUSLIM-ONLY MECCA ARRESTED
Elizabeth was a lifelong Christian and the head of the Anglican Church. She retained cordial relations with Islamic communities for much of her reign. In 2002, she made headlines for visiting a mosque for the first time in her reign in Scunthorpe, something local Islamic leaders still recall with fondness, according to the BBC. Some claims, widely spread on social media, persist that say Elizabeth was descended from the Prophet Muhammad, 43 generations ago, through the 11th-century Andalusian Princess Zaida, who converted to Catholicism and bore children for King Alfonso IV. Other historians dispute the claim, according to the Middle East Monitor.
Still, pilgrimages on behalf of the queen are forbidden. The specific type that the Yemeni man went on, an umrah, which can be undertaken any time of the year, is forbidden for non-Muslims.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II, we ask God to accept her in heaven and among the righteous,” the man’s banner read.
Elizabeth was the queen of Yemen, then called Aden, as part of the British Empire until Yemen’s independence in 1963. She died at the age of 96 last week. Her funeral is set for next week.
