On Tuesday, the Saudi Arabian Police arrested a Yemeni national for performing an Umrah pilgrimage on behalf of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The man had travelled from Yemen to the Muslim holy city of Mecca to honour the Queen who died on September 8 this year.
According to the reports, the Yemeni man performed the Umrah pilgrimage and held a banner that read, “Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II, we ask God to accept her in heaven and among the righteous”. He also published a video of the banner which went viral over social media. Many internet users on September 13 took cognizance of the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the man.
A Yemeni man has been arrested in Mecca by Saudi police while he was on his Umrah pilgrimage, which he dedicated to the late Queen Elizabeth II after she died last Thursday. The police said the man violated Umrah rules for carrying a sign with a message about the Queen. pic.twitter.com/d038dwxLVb
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 13, 2022
The Police during the arrest stated that the Yemeni national had violated the rules and regulations for umrah. While performing umrah on behalf of deceased Islamists is permissible, it does not apply to non-Muslims such as the Queen. Queen Elizabeth II who breathed her last on Thursday, September 8 acted as the supreme administrator of the Church of England, the mother church of the international Anglican communion.
According to the statement released by the authorities, the man was also arrested for carrying the banner inside the Grand Mosque of Mecca. “He was arrested, legal steps were taken against him, and he was referred to the public prosecution”, the authorities were quoted. The video that was extensively shared on social media was also published by several state television broadcast segments, but with the banner blurred. The mosque’s white and gray marble complex could be seen behind the Yemeni man.
Reports mention that Umrah is the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca, which can be performed at any time of the year. However, the Yemeni man violated the rules of umrah by performing it on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II who was a non-Muslim. The Saudi Arabian Police arrested the individual and referred him to the public prosecution.
To note, after the death of the Queen on September 8, various statements emerged, reinvigorating a long-debated claim that the monarch had ancestral links to Prophet Muhammad, the founding leader of Islam. After tracing her family tree back 43 generations, a historian claimed that the Queen is a descendant of Islam’s founder.
According to the claim that first appeared in the year 2018, the British monarch is a great descendant of Prophet Muhammad. A March 2018 report in the Moroccan daily Al-Ousboue reiterated assertions made by Harold B Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke’s Peerage Partnership, claiming the queen is the Prophet’s 43rd direct descendant through Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah. The Queen died on September 8, 2022.
