‘Stop recruiting expatriates as muezzins at mosques’

Religious figures urge authorities to increase the salaries of muezzins, making the job attractive to Bahrainis

Calls have gone out from leading religious figures to limit the recruitment of muezzins (prayer callers) to Bahrainis only. The calls have intensified following the brutal murder of an imam in Muharraq allegedly by a Bangladeshi muezzin.

Many clerics and religious figures have already urged the Sunni Awaqaf Board to fix a set of criteria before recruiting muezzins and this should include a background check on their character. They have also urged the board to increase the salaries of muezzins by raising it from the present BD150 a month.

Speaking to Tribune, Shaikh Salah Al Jowder, preacher at Jameae Al Khayr Mosque in Qalali, said people having criminal background should not be allowed in activities related to religion.