Saudi Arabia announced yesterday it had stopped more than 1000 preachers of mosques until they undergo rehabilitation courses to promote moderate attitude and reject extremism represented by al-Qaida organization. A matter which seemed as a campaign of reform ( Islah ) in the very influencial religious institute in the Kingdom. Despite the fact that the Saudi governmental official who announced this step stressed it was not linked to the American pressures on the Kingdom, nor the explosions which targeted houses complexes in Riyadh, nor clashes in Mecca, however, stopping those preachers and advocates from work can be listed in the context of several stances announced towards controlling extremism and monitoring the flow of assets and talks on amending certain educational curricula.
| "No, no! Really! We were just getting around to doing it..." |
The deputy minister at the Islamic affairs ministry in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Rahman al-Matroudi said that the preachers who were stopped will be rehabilitated in order to tell the worshippers that the September 11 attacks are a violation to the teaching of Islam. Al-Matroudi said that the preachers were informed that what happened on September 11 and the attacks which took place in other areas are all against Islam and that people should be notified that this is the position that Muslims should take. He indicated that "if one is not qualified to perform this mission, he will be asked to quit or he will be retrained and qualified."
| "Perhaps you turbans should consider a rewarding career in the food service industry, if you can't quite grasp the official line?" |
Al-Matroudi said that certain Americans, regrettably do not know what is taking place in the kingdom, noting that as a result of that they make their assessment having no information on the culture and tradition of the kingdom. He added that all Mosques' Imams and preachers criticized al-Qaida attitude. |