By SANAULLAH
DOHA: Private mosques that are in a poor condition and left unattended by their owners will be closed down, if the owners fail to carry out the necessary maintenance, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has warned.
A senior official of the Mosque Management Department at the Ministry said yesterday that the Department had a received a number of complaints from worshippers about the poor condition of several mosques owned by individuals.
“We are responsible only to provide Imams (who lead the prayers) and Muazzins (who give the call for prayers) to private mosques. The owners are responsible for rest of the services like maintenance and keeping them clean and tidy,” Head of the Department Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwari said in a press conference yesterday.
“The department has received several complaints from worshippers about private mosques failing to provide the required services. We can only ask the owners of mosques that are left in a poor and dilapidated condition to carry out the necessary maintenance. If they fail to do that we will withdraw the Imams and Muazzins and order to close down the mosque,” he added.
Of the total of 1,192 mosques in the country, 280 were built and managed by private individuals. The official, however, added that the department has not so far faced such an eventuality.
The expanding privatisation of the cleaning services of the mosques will not affect the jobs of the cleaning workers recruited directly by the Ministry, said Al Kuwari. He added that these workers are only transferred from Doha to other cities like Al Khor and Al Wakra and other suburban and rural areas.
The Ministry has no plans to replace these staff with cleaning workers hired from private companies, Al Kuwari told The Peninsula.
The official said that the Ministry had received a number of requests to raise the salaries of Imams and Muazzins and will study the issue.
He, however, maintained that their current salaries are higher compared to some other Gulf countries.
The number of Qatari Imams is only 112, while the total number of Imams and Muazzins would cross 2,000, calculated on the basis of the number of mosques.
Asked about the crowding in many mosques, especially during Friday prayers which see worshippers spilling over to the streets, the official said the Ministry had taken steps to build more mosques if the land is available in such populated areas.
As an alternative, the existing mosques are being developed with more floors to accommodate more worshipers. So far over 20 mosques have been renovated in this way at densely populated areas and several more are in the pipeline, said Al Kuwari.
Of the existing mosques, 170 needed to be demolished because their buildings are in a very poor condition.
Of the total mosques in the country, Friday prayers are held in 509 mosques and another 683 mosques are used only for the five-time daily prayers. Besides the mosques, there are 48 Eid prayer grounds and a similar number of mosques made of portacabins.
The Ministry also runs 27 centres for Quran recitation and memorisation and 1,038 houses for Imams.
The Peninsula
