Hashemite Scientific Council focuses on Muslim Awqaf in Jerusalem

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, HRH Prince Feisal on Friday attended the 88th session of the Hashemite Scientific Council at the Royal Cultural Centre, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The scientific council, organised by the Awqaf Ministry, is an annual Ramadan event that features the participation of intellectuals, clerics and Sharia (Islamic law) professors from the Kingdom and other Arab and Muslim countries. 

During the session, titled "The Muslim Awqaf in Jerusalem...the Hashemite custodianship", Sheikh Abdul Azim Salhab, who heads the Jerusalem Awqaf Council, commended the council for selecting this subject at a time when Jerusalem is "under an unprecedented occupation attack" that targets its land, holy places, institutions and people.

Salhab said that the Jerusalem's Awqaf owns three quarters of the old city, supervises 125 mosques with more than 1,000 employees, and supports over 40 educational centres.

He stressed that the Hashemite custodianship is the "only refuge" for Jerusalem in light of the Israeli "arrogance", noting that many obstacles hinder the work of the Awqaf such as the repeated actions of Israeli extremists breaking in Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif and practising "Talmudic rituals", and the Israeli policies that delay procedures related to building and reconstruction.