Sharjah will have 1,111 mosques by 2014

The emirate of Sharjah will have more than 1,111 mosques by 2014, said Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Department of Islamic Affairs.

He added that the number of mosques currently in the emirate is 685, and that 430 are being built, under the supervision of the department as well as provided by the Imams and Mu’azen besides the administrators.

This information was shared during a meeting of the Sharjah Advisory Council (SAC), which was held to discuss activities of the Sharjah Department of Islamic Affairs.

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi pointed out that the department had allocated 45 mosques to submit the Juma sermon in five languages other than Arabic, which are the English, Urdu, Malayalam, Pashto and Tamil.

He added also it has been coordinating with the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services to provide a sign language interpreter to translate the Friday sermon for people with hearing disabilities. The Mosque of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal has been identified for this purpose, and the initiative is the first of its kind at the state level.

According to statistics of 2013, the number of workers in mosques in Sharjah is 698 imams and Mu’azen, and 142 administrators. In addition, there are 28 women working in the mosques of Sharjah, of which 27 are Emiratis.

On the other hand, there are 126 workers working on the maintenance of mosques, with the number of requests for maintenance of mosques was 22,225 in 2013.

Also, the department organised 1,438 lectures until the end of November, in addition to 572 lessons in Quran and Hadith and Faqah (religious study).

The scholars of the department attended 200 TV Programs on Sharjah TV, mostly to give fatwa on viewers’ inquiries. The department organised 48 scientific seminars and issued 18,300 fatwas on different religious matters.

The Department of Islamic Affairs communicates with the public through modern social networking tools, such as Twitter, Facebook and BBM (BlackBerry Messenger).

The department has also recently opened a new account with the SOUND CLOUD program to publish audio clips of preachers.

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