Earlier this week, #BoycottHajj started going viral on Twitter in response to Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 prisoners. Those who started the hashtag apparently wanted to take a stand against the kingdom for what they considered to be a major human rights violation, however the response on Twitter was not as planned.
Shortly after taking off, the majority of those tweeting #BoycottHajj were pointing out that they thought it was a bad idea to neglect one of the Five Pillars of Islam, even if they disagreed with Saudi Arabia.
Some estimates suggest that Saudi Arabia makes around $8.5 billion from Hajj, with millions of Muslims from around the world flocking to the kingdom to perform the religious duty.
The response to the hashtag was varied, with many Twitter users expressing rage while others politely suggested other ways of taking a stand against Saudi Arabia that did not involve boycotting an important part of Islam.
See some of the tweets and reactions below, via Twitter.
If you're ok with completing religious duty at the price of fueling terrorism & opression, be my guest. This is a moral stand #BoycottHajj
— مايا (@Mayyish) January 2, 2016There is no excuse. If you can boycott Israel to protest occupation, you can #BoycottHajj to protest KSA spreading its extremism worldwide.
— hebe (@prophetess_) January 2, 2016Instead of #BoycottHajj a compulsory pilgrimage, why not #BoycottPetrol as that would directly hurt the pockets of the royal Saudi family
— Fantasma (@iAmForhad) January 4, 2016This is so stupid #boycotthajj. How are you ganna boycott one of the most important pillar of our deen
— Farhiya Adan (@farhiyaadan21) January 5, 2016#BoycottHajj oh please, it's a rite not a World Cup championship
— A H M E D (@Galaxy717) January 4, 2016#BoycottHajj? such trends should be banned where is Govt?
— Abbas Ali (@Abbas100) January 4, 2016
