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Riyadh: The World Supreme Council for Mosques has decided to set up an experts' panel to carry out studies about the real situation of mosques across the world. The objective will be to make the outcome of studies a guideline for their functioning in future. "The studies should outline the duties and responsibilities of imams, preachers and all others associated with mosques. The guidelines would enable them to ward off extremist views and deviant thoughts," the council said in a statement issued at the end of the 20th session, which concluded in Makkah on Thursday. The World Supreme Council for Mosques, an affiliate of the Makkah-based Muslim World League, entrusted its general secretariat with the task of constituting the experts' panel.
It also asked the secretariat to set up another committee to conduct studies about setting up of a "Global Endowment" in order to meet the basic needs of mosques especially among the poor Muslim societies as well as in countries where Muslims are a minority. "The committee should outline the goals and objectives of the proposed body, look into the legal procedures of its formation, as well as ideal ways of collecting contributions for financing the endowment, and this should be in coordination and consultations with the concerned agencies, including the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank," the statement said. The council urged Muslims worldwide to counter the malicious campaign being unleashed against Islam, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and Muslims. It called on the Muslim governments and Islamic organisations to come forward to counter blasphemy and defeat the offensive campaign launched by the Western media. The World Supreme Council for Mosques' session was held under the chairmanship of its President Shaikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Shaikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia. Several prominent Islamic scholars, religious leaders and representatives of Muslim organisations and Islamic centres from various parts of the world attended the two-day meeting. The session discussed a number of issues concerning mosques and endowments across the world. It also called for taking measures to ensure protection of Muslim minorities, meeting their requirements and supporting them in their efforts to safeguard their cultural and religious identity. The council underlined the need for issuing a charter that could be the basis for carrying out Da'awa work, focusing on the Islamic principles of moderation and tolerance, away from extremist views and deviant thoughts. The meeting also voiced concern over the acts of vandalism targeting mosques in various parts of the world, especially the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, as well as the mosques under attack in violence-torn Iraq.
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