HYDERABAD: City mosques are now vying for a new honour of being the cleanest Muslim place of worship. The pandemic has helped trigger the campaign – ‘My mosque is the cleanest’. About a dozen mosques have pioneered the campaign involving the local youth and students to clean the premises.
Most of the mosques had gathered dust due to prolonged shutdown during pandemic. The campaign was launched to clear the mess and keep the mosques clean and tidy ahead of any third wave of Covid-19. The team that keeps the local mosque cleanest will get financial incentives in the form of school and college tuition fee payment and scholarships.
Educationist Syed Zakir Hussain, the brain behind the campaign, told TOI that he had persuaded the youth and students to keep their mosques clean after he noticed the imam of a mosque cleaning the premises alone. “The imam is the leader of the congregational prayers. It is not his duty to clean the premises. I then mobilised a group of youngsters to clean the mosque,” he said.
Zakir said he was moved after a Hindu couple, who runs a sanitaryware shop, gave a huge discount when they came to know that the cleaning material was for a mosque. “When I asked for the price, the young couple refused to quote the price. Instead they told me to pay whatever I can as the material was for the house of God,” Zakir said.
At 100-years-old Masjid Amjadi, Sultan and his friends have been keeping the mosque clean. Prominent businessman Abdul Rasheed and his team has been taking care of the Qutub Shahi mosque at Shaikpet. Mohammad Moazzam Hussain, founding member of MS Schools group, told TOI that the response has been very encouraging and many mosques are now cleaner than ever.Syed Asim Ahmed, IT expert and member of Chowk Masjid committee, said the idea behind the campaign was to inculcate the habit of cleanliness in youngsters.
Imams and khateebs of a few mosques during Friday sermons (khutbah) said that it was the duty of everyone who offers prayers in mosques to keep the premises clean. Moulana Mohammad Haneef Quadri told the devout that cleanliness was half the faith and youngsters should not wait for the mosque committee to keep the premises clean.
