A long overdue reform program announced recently by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs is designed to streamline mosque activity. The timing of the project is an indication of some serious flaws in the work of these important religious institutions. One wonders why the ministry has been silent all these years and never addressed the situation. Are conditions at these institutions, which have played critical roles throughout Islamic history and Muslim life, really that bad? Are the preachers who deliver the Friday sermons really unfit for their jobs? If the answer is yes as the announcement suggests, then this is a real tragedy.
The minister says that a committee set up to oversee the reform program will work to revitalize and activate mosques while enforcing strict supervision and control over their activities. Now, what exactly needs to be activated? If the mosques are doing nothing, what will the committee supervise and control? Mosques have not been playing the role they did in the past — serving as a means of spreading knowledge and educating people. How and why they lost this role remains the question that needs to be answered.
The ministry said that it is producing a book containing the sermons (khutbas) and other addresses given by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the wise caliphs and some contemporary ulema. These are to serve as guidelines for the preachers who give the Friday sermons.
Well, if the objective is to make the preachers benefit from the sermons, that is good. But if the ministry is trying to oblige the preachers to stick strictly to what is in the book, then it is making a serious mistake. Today we are facing concerns and problems of a different nature.
The minister says a preacher’s job is to admonish and lead and not to defame either individuals or countries. I admit that I am not clear about what this really means. What about ideas and beliefs that are contrary to Islam but which are publicly propagated? Is not a preacher expected to defend Islam in his reply and warn those individuals and countries that attack our religion?
Suppose a Muslim state enacted legislation sanctioning usury, adultery and other things which are forbidden. Doesn’t the preacher have the right to speak out about the legislation? Today many blaspheme Prophet Muhammad and brand him a terrorist, describing our religion as backward and reactionary. Can responding to such falsehoods be considered defamation?
The ministry should know that Islam is not a priestly or sacerdotal religion that divides its followers along religious and worldly lines. The minister knows this very well, for he himself is a scholar and a public servant and part of the official decision-making process. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) was both a religious and political ruler. I suggest that we employ full-time preachers to serve as imams, preachers, teachers of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic sciences as well as social counsels serving their neighborhoods. By doing so, the ministry would kill two birds with one stone. It would guarantee genuine mosque reform and help fight unemployment among the jobless graduates of Shariah colleges.
Arab News From the Local Press 5 January 2003
