Hyderabad: Muslim clerics are wary of accepting the proposal of the Telangana government to pay Rs 1,000 each to Imams and Muezzins of Mosques across the state as honorarium.
Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, on Thursday announced that the government has declared Rs 1,000 as honorarium would be paid per month to Imams and Muezzins working in all the 5,000 mosques across the state. He said this honorarium will be paid monthly from this Ramzan.
A majority of Imams oppose the honorarium on the ground that once they accept the government aid they will lose their religious freedom.
Mufti Abdul Mugani, city president of Jamait-ul Ulema, representing the views of the clerics who have been opposing the honorarium, recalled that some years ago, Muslim scholars in Delhi opposed the move of the Delhi government to offer salaries to Imams of Mosques in Delhi on the ground of intruding in religious freedom.
He said “Even according to Sharia, no one can put restriction on mosques or madarsas and their religious preaching and once we accept the government aid, it will open the door to the government to have control over imams and their preaching.”
He said, “If the government is extending the benefit as one time for Ramzan, it is ok. But my sincere advice to the Imams and Muezzins is not to accept it for the sake of religious freedom.”
Moulana Syed Shah Asrar Ahmed Razvi, supporting the proposal of the government, said, “There is nothing wrong in accepting the honorarium and there is no bar even in Sharia to accept the benefits offered by the government.” He said that when several mosques, dargahs, madarsas and orphanages are accepting crores of rupees as grant in aid from the government, what is the problem in accepting the honorarium?
Deputy CM Mohammed Mahmood Ali said, “We are offering this benefit keeping in view the constraints and hardships faced by Imams and Muezzins in villages. The Imams and Muezzins in the city may be getting good remunerations from their mosque committees, but the situation is pathetic in villages. A majority of them are ready to receive the honorarium.”
He clarified that there is no compulsion on Imams and Muezzins to accept the government’s proposal it is for them to decide on it.
