Jordanians launched a campaign to support the Society for the Preservation of the Noble Qur’an, following strict amendments to its work issued by the Ministry of Awqaf under the title “Organizing the Work of Quranic Child Clubs.” Commentators in the media believed that these amendments would “close the clubs and not modify their work.”
Amman- Recently, social media in Jordan witnessed a wide interaction with a campaign launched by activists to defend the “Holy Quran Preservation Society” in the face of what was described as “official restrictions” on its activities by closing the “Quranic Child Clubs”.
The campaign came as a result of new instructions from the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments to organize the work of Quranic Child Clubs last March, and commentators considered that the amendments would “close the clubs and not modify their work.”
The new instructions of the Quranic Child Club for the year 2022 set a number of conditions; Most notably, the appointment of a director and full-time teachers, a working period of no more than 9 hours per week in the morning and evening shifts, and the obtaining of a leave of recitation by the Ministry of Awqaf for male and female teachers.
The Society’s Child Club targets children from 3 to 5 years old, and the endowment stipulates that it specializes in teaching and memorizing the Holy Qur’an and the supreme values of Islam without teaching any other educational courses.
accusations of partisan activities
The Society for the Preservation of the Noble Qur’an, which was established 31 years ago, calls for amending the specific conditions of the “Quranic Child” clubs, because in its current form it is considered “a restriction on the work of the clubs and leads to their closure,” according to the description of those in charge of them.
The head of the association, Nidal al-Abadi, said that its branches have “corrected their legal conditions in accordance with the legislation and regulations issued by the Ministry of Awqaf, whether with regard to Quranic Child Clubs or other educational systems in the association.”
Al-Abadi added to Al-Jazeera Net, that the child club licensing system “needs to reconsider its terms, especially the terms of students’ working hours, teachers’ sabbaticals and their obtaining a leave of recitation, which are conditions that are not imposed on imams, preachers and preachers.”
Official bodies accuse the association of financial and administrative abuses, and of being an arm of Islamic parties and organizations. On the other hand, Al-Abadi denies that the association is an arm or implementer of partisan or organizational agendas, and said that it does not receive any orders or directives from parties, and that it is independent and is concerned with the Qur’an and its service.
The Society for the Preservation of the Holy Quran runs 1050 Quranic centers. These centers are distributed over the regions of the Kingdom, and include 163 clubs for memorizing and teaching the Noble Qur’an to children.
The association granted 15,000 licenses to recite the Qur’an, while it graduated more than 8,000 memorizers of the Qur’an, and it organizes dozens of Qur’anic projects.
Infringements and violations
In turn, the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf denied the closure of any summer clubs affiliated with Islamic societies and centers. She said that she is working to support clubs that contribute to the development of talents and take advantage of time by learning the Qur’an and morals.
The ministry, in a statement a few days ago, accused the Quran Preservation Society of “failing to comply with the law of associations financially and administratively, and of a number of financial and administrative abuses in its branches that have not been corrected.”
With regard to the Quranic Child Clubs, the ministry confirmed the existence of Islamic centers affiliated with the association operating under the name of the Quranic Child Club, “and they are in fact kindergartens that teach all academic subjects without a license from the Ministry of Education, which has the competence, or fulfill the minimum requirements for the work of kindergartens.”
The ministry said that these clubs do not meet the conditions and requirements of public safety, and they collect monthly tuition fees from students’ parents without any legal basis.
“external dictates”
Within the context of the controversy, writer and political analyst Fayez Al-Fayez criticized the Ministry of Awqaf’s measures against the activities of the Quran memorization centers in the aforementioned association and others, and the requirement for a teacher to hold an accreditation certificate from the ministry, and for the educational qualifications of Quran memorization courses to be at least a master’s, as well as the requirement to obtain Official approval if the teacher is a worker in the government sector, which many see as a violation of legitimacy and “a fulfillment of external dictates.”
Al-Fayez called on the ministry to reverse its decision, and “let the religious community deal with centers away from political quarrels… the issue is memorizing the Qur’an, not taming it for other purposes.”
He added, “Did our venerable sheikhs not read that the first word the Qur’an was revealed to be “read” and “we will preserve it?”
‘short vision’
And former MP Assaf Al-Shobaki wrote on Facebook, saying, “You only get drunk on the centers of memorizing the Noble Qur’an and associations for preserving the dear book of God… Why do you not get drunk at night clubs, discos, bars, pubs, and centers of debauchery? Why do you enter into a war with God? .. God has blackened the face of every hypocrite. It implements a foreign agenda and serves the objectives of the enemies.”
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Jordanian National Center for Human Rights, Rahil Gharaibeh, wrote on his Facebook account, “In light of the collapse of values, cultural change, and the horrific features of the upcoming digital revolution… the preoccupation with scaling the Society for the Preservation of the Holy Qur’an carries a short vision and a great and clear degree of arbitrariness.”
While activist Ibrahim Al-Mansi commented on the decisions of the Ministry of Awqaf through the hashtag “We are all with the Association” on Twitter, saying that thousands of Islamic education teachers and thousands of imams and preachers do not hold an introductory course in recitation, “and the endowments come to 500 teachers in Quranic child clubs to stipulate that they Quranic leave, and they are studying kindergarten, otherwise 163 clubs will be closed, knowing that the minimum period for taking Quranic leave is two years.
Accusations of targeting a “moderate institution”
As for the activist and former MP, Dima Tahboub, she tweeted, “The summer clubs of the Society for the Preservation of the Qur’an are narrowed down without reason, error or transgression of the law. These clubs are a safe, educational, educational and creative haven for our children, and there is no alternative and indispensable unless the Ministry of Awqaf wants to keep Boys on the streets.
Professor of interpretation, Ahmed Nofal, praised the activities of the association, saying that it “..has adopted moderation as a method and method, and has been respected and decently placed not only in its own country, but also in many Arab and Islamic countries.”
Facebook activist Walid Alimat commented on the hashtag “We are all the Society for the Preservation of the Holy Qur’an,” saying that his daughters from the age of 3 began their journey with the association, and now they memorize a good number of Qur’anic surahs, and are on their way to memorizing the entire Qur’an, “in addition to the religious culture commensurate with their ages.” “.
“A successful religious institution with thousands of achievements over more than 30 years should be honored, not fought and harassed,” he added.
