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RAK mosques under scanner for cleanliness

These religious facilities, located in different parts of the emirate, are neither looked after by the local communities nor by relevant government bodies.

"However, there is a ray of hope," said Shaikh Omer bin Abdulazeez Al Qasimi, Director-General of RAK Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Department (RAIAD).

''His Highness Shaikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, pays the expenses of hiring a specialised company to look after around 300 facilities even as some of the remaining ones suffer from negligence because they are left to the Imams or their helpers or even to the surrounding communities,'' the official told Khaleej Times.

The emirate has more than 700 mosques that are located in different residential and commercial areas. ''We direct Imams and their helpers that cleanliness and tidiness in mosques is a priority that should be carefully kept,'' he said.

Employees of mosques attend training courses organised regularly by the department on the importance of keeping hygienic environment in mosques. ''We are always drawing their attention to the fact that cleanliness is a fundamental Islamic value that should be kept by them,'' he observed.

"The training courses also cover subjects like personal tidiness and refined social behaviour. Imams are important spiritual as well as social leaders and can play a very constructive role and should stand out as models to be followed by the public,'' he pointed out.

Answering a question about the measures undertaken by the department towards those who violate these directives, he said: ''We take stringent measures against them like issuing warning or cutting certain amounts of the monthly payments.''

The official attributed the large number of mosques in the emirate to the fact that people used to build them in the past without a unified plan for land use. ''Some philanthropists used to approach the department to donate pieces of land and funds for building mosques without unified plan for the whole emirate,'' he noted.

The RAIAD and the RAK Department of Land have recently formed a joint committee to look into applications for building new mosques before approving them. ''The panel studies every application carefully and approves it after assessing the real need of the surrounding area,'' he said.

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