On Friday this week, the Security Forces guarding the Grand Mosque in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrested a man who tried to reach the pulpit from where the imam was delivering his Friday sermon.
The spokesman of Makkah region police, Lt. Gen. Ati Al-Qurashi said the Man “has been apprehended immediately and legal measures have been initiated against him”
The Man was was in Ihram appeared to be walking towards the Mataaf (in disguise of performing the ritual of Tawaaf) suddenly begun to run towards the minbar with what appeared to be a weapon concealed under the Ihram.
Security Officials standing guard by the minbar quickly apprehended the man who was later handed over to the Police.
The confrontation was viewed and heard on live television as it happened by millions watching the weekly sermon from the Grand Mosque.
Later a closeup CCTV footage was seen circulating on Twitter showing the incident clearly
In the past, there has been unsuccessful attempts on the lives of Imams of the Grand Mosques while they were either leading prayers or within the vicinity of the Grand Mosque.
In the past, the Imams of the Haramain used to travel in and out of the Mosque without security guards, however, due to some incidents and increased recognition due to social media exposure, the Imam is now accompanied by a security escort to protect them from the crowd and other ugly incidents.
Below are some of the past attempts on the Lives of Haramain Imams:
Incident 1- A Man attempted to approach while shouting Sheikh Ali Al Hudaify while he was Fajr Salah. (I don’t understand this)?
Incident 2- A man pushed Sheikh Juhany and started to shout in the microphone in 2011 while thr Sheikh he was leading Dhur Salah
Incident 3- A man attempted to stab Sheikh Abdulrahman Al- Sudais while he was seated for Taslim during Salah in Masjid Al Haram in the late 2000s
Incident 4 . There was an attempted attack on Sheikh Bandar Baleelah in 2021 during Jumu’ah prayer
The reported incidents above led to the reorganization of security architecture around the Imams of the Grand Mosques as witnessed in the latest attack.
Source from Haramain Sharifain
