RIYADH - Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has fired 44 "incompetent" Friday preachers, 160 imams (prayer leaders) and 149 muezzin (prayer callers) in the past six months. Authorities also suspended 1,357 religious officials from their duties and ordered them to undergo training, the pan-Arab Al-Hayat daily said. The dismissals took place in accordance with a programme introduced by the ministry of Islamic affairs to boost performance of mosque employees, Al-Hayat said.
| I find it very encouraging that this happened. Nearly as encouraging as the fact that they killed a couple in a shootout... |
Those suspended from duties include 517 imams, 90 Friday preachers and 750 muezzin. They have been asked to undergo "theological training" to be able to work more efficiently at mosques. The paper quoted head of the ministry programme Sheikh Salman al-Amri as saying the actions were not linked to the recent suicide bombings in Riyadh or the result of external pressure.
| "No, no! Certainly not! We were just letting all that incompetence accumulate so we could dump them all at once. It's more efficient that way..." |
Saudi Arabia employs some 80,000 people, including part-time preachers, at tens of thousands of mosques run by the government. |