The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has warned imams and those giving Friday sermons to refrain from apportioning blame over the Jeddah floods and to instead concentrate on “consoling bereaved families” in this and coming Friday sermons. “A lot of families of victims are going through a terrible time at the moment because of the disaster and the emotional, physical and financial tragedies it has left in its wake, so the ministry has advised that sermons keep to consolation and care from the aspect of Shariah,” said the Manager of the Ministry's Endowments and Mosques in Jeddah, Sheikh Faheed Al-Barqi. “This is part of the ministry's continuous program of the state's involvement in helping the public tackle problems of all types, as the Friday sermon is the pulse of the people,” Al-Barqi said. According to Al-Barqi, a missive from the ministry has advised that sermons refrain from “addressing the Mayor's office or any other authority”. “The pulpit was not put there for the settling of scores,” he said, adding that no reports had been received of any sermons attacking authorities, “either the Mayor's Office or anyone else.” Any reported instances, however, “will not go unpunished”. “The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has made efforts to inspect the condition of mosques hit by the floods, and sermons should continue to provide help and consolation to the public and remind them of the virtue of patience, for in the Qur'an there are 90 verses addressing the virtue of patience so the efforts of sermonizers should go along with the efforts of the government in consoling victims and easing their grief,” Al-Barqi said. Sheikh Al-Barqi added that repair and maintenance work on 29 of the 30 mosques damaged in the floods have been completed and are now ready to reopen their doors to worshippers through the ministry's efforts with volunteers. “Damage was limited to carpeting and equipment and some copies of the Qur'an, but all these areas have been addressed and the mosques completed reprepared,” Al-Barqi said. Saudi Gazette reported last Saturday that Friday sermons at two mosques in the flood-stricken district of Quwaizah targeted their ire at the generations of mayors they said were to blame for the fatal floods. Farouq Mosque heard a sermon in which the Mayor of Jeddah was cited as “the cause of the ‘Wednesday Catastrophe' for allowing people to build houses in the middle of flood courses and giving them permits, and for allowing others to build housing on officially planned areas located on valley floors”, while the congregation at Al-Tawheed Mosque was told of the state of the King Abdullah Underpass which, according to the sermon, had filled up with rainwater and “become a huge lake due to the lack of any rain water drains inside, despite being a recent Mayoralty construction”. The sermon concluded that the mayors of Jeddah should be held publicly responsible for what was described as “administrative corruption”.
