The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has been playing an important role in facilitating, promoting and educating the people about Islam and its tolerant message and culture. Apart from its main work of administering and supervising mosques across the country, supervising Haj and Umrah affairs, and the Zakat Fund, the Ministry has also been engaged in a number of welfare and educational activities through its endowment funds.
The Ministry’s General Directorate of Endowments this week launched a new ‘Hadith’ memorising contest for school students and their parents. Through this initiative, the department aims to teach and familiarise the students with the prophetic traditions and to instil the love for the Prophet (peace be upon him) in their hearts. The contest has prizes worth QR1.5m. The competition is open to all students from government or private schools and their parents, who can register at the Ministry’s website until March 20. While such initiatives teach the students about the traditions and tenets of Islam, students also learn the skills of public speaking, rhetoric and eloquence through such competitions. The competition debuted in 2013, when it had only 18 participants from as many schools. It has grown to more than 2,500 participants from around 380 schools in 2021.
Earlier this month, the Ministry opened the country’s largest endowment project for the teaching of the Holy Quran. The ‘Al Utrujjah’ project, worth QR68.8m, comprises 112 residential apartments of international standards, located in Doha’s Bin Mahmoud area. The revenue generated from the project will be spent on teaching the Holy Quran. In 2021, over 13,000 students benefited from ‘Taa’hud’, a virtual platform launched by the Ministry for the teaching of the Holy Quran.
Last year, the Endowments Department, through its six separate endowment funds, financed many projects such as building mosques, providing educational opportunities and scholarships, healthcare services and many more. Its ‘Salat Al Ata’ project provided food aid to thousands of families in need, while the education and culture development endowment fund provided 14 scholarships to students to pursue their higher studies in Oxford University and 120 scholarships for universities in Qatar. The Endowment Fund for Healthcare provided a permanent headquarters for Qatar Autism Society and 12,000 dialysis treatments to poor patients with kidney disorders and treatments to 63 heart patients in Qatar. The endowment fund for mosques services helped build 28 mosques in 2021. The fund also provided 20 makeshift mosques in new areas.
