Saudi ministry dismisses preachers for their political views

The Saudi Ministry of Endowments dismissed a number of preachers which it claimed “politicised the Friday sermons, turning them to political speeches.”

The deputy minister for Mosque Affairs, Abdel-Mohsem Al-Alsheikh, said in a statement Monday that the decision “came after seven months of monitoring the preachers”, referring to the period after the July 3 coup led by Egyptian defense minister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi against the democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi.

He said the ministry monitored 25-30 preachers whose sermons “leaned towards politics”.

“People do not need to listen to such sermons. They only need religious advice derived from the Quran and Sunnah,” he said.