The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has banned people and organizations from providing Iftar meals in mosques during Ramadan unless permission is granted to them from the ministry. The move comes as part of organizing and managing charities especially in the holy month of Ramadan. “Our new decision bans Imams from collecting money to offer free Iftar and even taking Iftar meals from citizens,” said Tawfik Al-Sedairi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. “This new system is basically aimed at managing the Iftar time, type, place, and cost and not to provide mosques with free meals,” added Al-Sedairi. Arrangements will be made with the Ministry of Social Affairs to issue permissions to the Imams who want to offer Iftar meals in their mosques, according to Al-Sedairi. “We have asked those wanting to give money to deposit their contribution in bank accounts belonging to charity associations and they will provide an official seal with serial number,” added Al-Sedairi. ”We will provide legal accountants to charity associations and mosques that have collected money to provide Iftar meals in order to ensure that all the collected money will be used judiciously.” “Charity associations will only collect the money for the poor people who cannot pay for Iftar and they will be responsible for the money that they have collected,” added Al-Sedairi. Each mosque is required to have a paper that should include the license number issued by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. “We are not responsible for charity associations that will present meals among the poor families. We will cooperate with them only to control the money that they will collect and to know where they will spend it,” said Al-Sedairi. “There are many reasons behind taking this step, where we want to ensure that only the poor people will take the Iftar as well as ensuring that the money will be spent only on charity,” Said Al-Sedairi. “The Imams will not be allowed to hold the Iftar meals in the mosques. They will be held in big opened yards to avoid food smell from spreading and the leftover food from lying around the mosques,” added Al—Sedairi. This Ramadan, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs has already decided to keep all the mosques open 24 hours for people to worship at their convenience. “Spending long hours worshipping Allah is a priority during the holy month especially for those who want to perform I'tekaf (retreating into the mosque for worhship),” Al-Sedairi said recently. “The ministry is ensuring the safety of Muslims by hiring more staff for night shifts.” “Imams and workers in the mosque will be present everyday during Ramadan. In case of an emergency absence someone else will be there,” Al-Sedairi said. “Imams have a great duty. We have informed them of the necessity of their presence at all times during Ramadan.” __
