Terror muezzin was‘introvert’

The muezzin arrested on terror charges at a mosque in Riyadh was an introvert with no social interaction, said people who used to worship at the mosque.
From a room attached to this mosque security forces seized explosives on Saturday.
The man’s behavior since his arrival at the mosque three months ago never suggested that he was involved in subversive activities, Al-Madinah daily reported yesterday.
“His appearance was so ordinary and natural that nobody gave him a second look. He was quiet and silent and never initiated anything,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Meshari, a frequent visitor to the mosque.
Al-Meshari added that once he had noticed suspicious behavior. It was when the muezzin changed the lock of the storeroom in the mosque some time ago. On demanding an explanation for the act, the muezzin told Al-Meshari that the storeroom needed repair and that was why he locked it with a new lock.
“The man kept aloof from the people, joined the congregation only from behind and left at the conclusion of the prayers before others. We seldom saw him, except at the time of adhan (call to prayer),” Al-Meshari said.
One day he asked the muezzin why he left immediately after the prayers, especially since the keys of the mosque were with him and he was to take care of the mosque. “But his answer remained vague,” Al-Meshari said.
He added that people in the neighborhood never observed any dubious behavior in him and that is why no one reported him. They never suspected that their peaceful mosque could ever be used as a cover for such activities.
Grand Mufti and Chairman of the Senior Religious Scholars Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh stressed the need to stop exploiting mosques for extremist activities, even if that meant the closure of a mosque.
Al-Asheikh called on mosque officials not to permit anyone to go against the noble purpose for which a mosque is established. He reminded them that it was their duty to inform authorities concerned when they noticed any attempt to spread deviant ideologies in mosque premises. The grand mufti also demanded preachers to fortify young minds against terrorist ideologies.
“Those who spread deviant ideologies are tools in the hands of those who hate the country and they are recruited to execute destructive schemes,” the mufti warned.