JEDDAH: The Ministry of Islamic Affairs Call and Guidance has arrested a group of imams in Jeddah Governorate who converted mosque facilities into residential apartments and commercial stores for more than half a million riyals.
It was found that flats and rooms attached to mosques were secretly rented out by imams for commercial purposes. For years, the imam had been renting out private residences built adjacent to one of the mosques in Makkah province.
The tenants say that they pay the rent of the residences exactly to the imam. Abdurrahman Alharisi, head of the monitoring department of the Makkah Province Islamic Ministry branch, said that the imam secretly rented out nine flats adjacent to this mosque to others.
The mosque’s toilets and ablution areas have been converted into seven rooms and rented out by the imam. Abdurrahman Alharisi said that the electricity and water bills of these flats and rooms are paid from the accounts of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. A building was constructed under another mosque and converted into a laundry (laundry) and two business establishments.
The imam was also found to be illegally renting out rooms in another mosque in North Jeddah. This imam is a doctor who is a university teacher. Even the minaret of the mosque and a part of the special entrance for the imam to enter the mosque were converted into the imam’s room. All these rooms were rented out by the imam to foreigners.