Saudi Arabia may stop funding mosques in foreign lands
Geneva/IBNS: In a shift from its half-a-century old foreign policy, Saudi Arabia is planning to stop funding mosques in foreign countries, a Wion report said today.
Wion, quoting a Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche, said a mosque in Geneva is being handed over to the Swiss administrative council which will elect a cleric to ensure the mosque falls in safe hands.
Saudi Arabia's former minister of justice Mohammed Bin Abdul-Karim Issa has said the same measure will be taken for mosques across the world.
A local board of administration set up in coordination with the national authorities will be set up in the mosques, he said, adding that after the measure Saudi Arabia will not intervene in the matters of the mosques it funded for decades.
By 2007, Saudi Arabia had spent close to $2 billion annually on promoting Wahabi Islam across the world, Wion news said.
The change in Saudi Arabia's religious funding policy is being viewed as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's efforts to modernise Saudi Arabia by separating politics and religion.
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