The inability of Saudi authorities to accommodate religious diversity is not the only contested issue that antagonizes many Muslims. Saudi Arabia does not like politicized gatherings in public places. For example, the government severely punishes anyone calling for demonstrations, which are banned anyway. So the authorities are paranoid about pilgrims who may use the occasion to raise political issues or incite others to act on these issues. In the past, this controversy has brought Saudi Arabia into conflict with Iran, whose pilgrims wanted to turn the religious occasion into a political rally in 1987 during the Iran-Iraq War.
Political conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the last three decades crept into the pilgrimage season, with Saudis constantly warning all Muslims against using the occasion to voice political views. But this year, Saudi Arabia has many other conflicts to worry about that might erupt during the annual pilgrimage. Saudi Arabia has antagonized not only Shiites but other Muslims as a result of its aggressive foreign policy following the Arab uprisings in 2010.
From the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and its affiliates around the Arab world who resented Saudi support for military rule in Egypt to Yemenis who have suffered massive civilian deaths after more than six months of Saudi bombing of their cities, Saudi Arabia is no longer the all-encompassing reconciliatory Muslim power that it claims to be. While the growing sectarianism currently sweeping the region cannot be entirely blamed on Saudi political and religious policies, Saudi Arabia has contributed to the increasing polarization, especially between Sunnis and Shiites. Under the pretext of curbing Iranian influence in the Arabian Peninsula, the ongoing Saudi war in Yemen has yet to bring peace to that poor country. In Syria, Saudi support for various rebel groups over the past four years has yielded more controversy than solutions. It has certainly made political solutions a remote possibility and resulted in the exodus of millions of Syrian refugees whom Gulf countries are not prepared to welcome.