Ministry: Evict tenants from mosque annexes

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Call and Guidance has instructed caretakers of 37 mosques across the city to evict Saudi and expatriate tenants from their annex buildings, which were originally allocated for housing imams and muezzins. The measure was taken after 42 inspectors looked into the observations of a specialized committee comprising representatives of various government departments. The committee found the annex buildings were rented to illegal expatriates and used for holding unauthorized Qur’an lessons. Most of these violations, according to Makkah Arabic daily, have taken place in disorganized districts of the city. The mosque facilities were rented out on the pretext that the annexes were not large enough for imams and muezzins to live with their families and they had to look for alternative housing facilities. The committee observed that most of the tenants in the annex buildings were expatriates. The department for endowments at the ministry has warned that it would take action against the mosque managements if the rented annex buildings were not vacated within a month. It attributed the weak monitoring of mosques to shortage of field inspectors. “We have only 42 inspectors to check on 2,300 mosques in the city,” a department official told the Arabic daily. An inspector has to monitor activities at 100 mosques and will take one year to complete an inspection round, he added. The committee also observed that about 700 mosques in the city required emergency maintenance. It noted that some mosque caretakers did not respond favorably to the department’s instructions, the paper said. A report presented by the Jeddah governor to Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal stressed the need to maintain 400 mosques in the first phase. It also wanted the maintenance of 300 mosques in the second stage. The director of endowments and mosques in Jeddah has been urged to take corrective measures regarding operation of unlicensed Qur’an centers and renting of mosque annexes. The committee also asked the National Water Company and the Civil Defense Department to see its observations regarding their services to take corrective measures.