Hawzah News Agency-Citing “high-ranking Saudi media officials,” a report by London-based Rai al-Youm paper said the recent remarks by Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh, the Saudi grand Mufti, describing Iranian Shias as “not Muslims” have created “a wave of discontent” among the public and some officials in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi media officially announced that Al Sheikh would not be delivering this year’s Hajj sermon after more than three decades. He had been continuously delivering the sermon since 1981.

The Saudi Media reported he would be replaced by another cleric but stopped short of explaining why the grand mufti would not deliver this year’s sermon.

Al Sheikh’s replacement may have taken place on a request by Saudi King Salman himself in an attempt to do damage control following the mufti’s remarks against Iranian Shias.

The London-based paper said speculation over Al Sheikh’s potential forced retirement is particularly strengthened in light of the comments made by his successor, al-Sudais, who earlier officially thanked the grand mufti for his 35 years of delivering the Hajj sermon.

Al Sheikh preaches Wahhabism, a radical “ideology” that inspires Takfiri terrorists across the world. Such terrorist groups — particularly Daesh — declare people of other faiths and beliefs as “infidels” and, based on “decrees” from Saudi “clerics,” rule that they should be killed. The word Takfir is Arabic for “declaring as an infidel.”

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