Director General of the Islamic Affairs branch in Madinah Dr. Mohamed Al-Amine Al-Khatri has acknowledged the problem of cleanliness in mosques in the region citing the termination of contracts with cleaning companies which had failed to comply with their terms as the reason for the issue.

He assured that the branch had assigned the contract to different companies and that the hygiene issues in mosques would be resolved within the next three months.

A number of citizens said that the mosques in Madinah have had no cleaners for two months prompting people to take the initiative to clean the mosques during prayer times.

Saad Al-Rahili, Moattaq Al-Rashidi and Mohammed Al-Mozainy said a number of citizens have been hiring workers at their own expense to carry out the cleaning of these mosques.

They said citizens have called on the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, and Guidance in the region more than once to solve this problem, but have received no response.

Meanwhile, many imams and preachers said that hiring workers at their own expense was in violation of the Kingdom’s labor laws besides being very costly. They demanded that the officials intervene immediately to resolve the issue.