Undersecretary at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs for Mosques, Call and Guidance Tawfiq bin Abdulaziz Al-Sudairi said that his ministry has no intention to pre-determine topics for Friday sermons.
“Preachers and imams are appointed once their knowledge and prudence has been confirmed,” he said.
Al-Sudairi told a local newspaper that the ministry sometimes ask preachers to speak about general issues of interest to the public without defining a specified sermon and leaves the matter for them to decide.
In a press statement issued after visiting the headquarters of the Open Islamic Academy in Riyadh, he said that the ministry prohibits the raising of funds and collection of money for iftar projects in Ramadan.
“The breakfast during Ramadan is provided by worshipers inside mosques within a defined legal and religious framework,” he said.
Explaining the issue of non-Saudi imams working in the Kingdom’s mosques, he said: “Mandating the task to a non-Saudi imam is not permitted unless under certain circumstances, such as very old neighborhoods where there are no imams, or the mosque itself lacks lodging for him,” he said, adding that once the problem is solved, the vacancy will be filled by a Saudi imam.
He said that the salary rise for imams is governed by a set system and not according to the discretion of the ministry.