Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – The Ministry of Islamic Affairs said it employs women who want to be Islamic preachers and practice dawa (call) outside the Kingdom, according to the ministry's undersecretary for dawa abroad. “We have a handful of women engaging in dawa activities in the Philippines,” Abdulaziz Al-Ammar told Al-Hayat newspaper. The ministry welcomes female applicants who are interested in preaching Islam to non-Muslims abroad, he added. The ministry sent abroad over 1,300 dawa activists to spread the message of Islam according to the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who directed the ministry to embark on this mission on a strictly religious basis, he said. He said the ministry has instructed its activists abroad not to engage in any political conversations, interfere in a country's domestic affairs and stir sectarian tension and to always comply with the rules and regulations in the countries they visit. Al-Ammar believes that activists' stipends should be increased, at least for those who live in certain countries. The minimum stipend the ministry pays is SR3,000, he said. Al-Ammar recently signed an agreement with the Sheikh Al-Rajhi Foundation to carry out dawa programs abroad. Around 500,000 copies of the Holy Qur'an will be printed for distribution all over the world while various religious books in different languages will be handed out to dawa workers in different countries, all as part of the agreement that seeks to enhance dawa outside the Kingdom.
