“Our Imams should be religious volunteers, not appointed religious officers”

BURSA - Speaking at the opening ceremony of the new service building of the Provincial Mufti of Bursa, Mehmet Görmez, Director of Religious Affairs, emphasized that they want imams to be devotees of religion, not appointed religious officials.

Director of Religious Affairs Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez participated in the opening ceremony of the new service building of Bursa Provincial Mufti.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the mufti building that started with the Qur'anic recitation, Director of Religious Affairs Mehmet Görmez said, “We want our Imams to be religious volunteers, not appointed religious officers. Not civil servants who only pray 5 times a day, he should work as spiritual architect who keeps spiritual life alive in city, neighborhood, street, village and country.”

“Our biggest intention is to preserve the spirit and heart of the cities"

“Bursa is the center of knowledge and wisdom of the Islamic civilization,” said Görmez and added, “Also cities have a heart, have a soul. Bursa is a city with a soul. Bursa is a city with a heart. A city which its heart beats saying as Allah, Allah. As the concrete buildings are increasing, the soul and the heart of our cities are weakening from time to time. We need to keep the spirit and heart of our cities strong. Religion Affairs, together with the Provincial Muftis, our biggest intention is to protect the spirit of the cities. As the buildings are growing, we need greater struggle to keep the human spirit alive.”

“Our Imams should be religious volunteers, not appointed religious officers"

Görmez stated that the Religion Affairs and the Mufti Officers are not ordinary bureaucratic mechanisms, and said, “The main task of the Religion Affairs is to keep the city spiritual and scientific alive. Religious and muftis are not ordinary bureaucratic mechanisms, and should not be. Our cities should work to keep our religious and spiritual life alive. We want our imams not to be assigned religious officials, but to be dedicated religious volunteers. Work as a spiritual architect who keeps the spiritual life of the city, the locality, the street, the village, the town, the land, and not only the civil servant who performs prayer 5 times a day. Each of our citizens must bring all kinds of problems, and if two brothers have problems, they must come to the mosque to make peace.”

Referring to the importance of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Görmez said, “The political and economic stability of the nations is important. But when the Muslim nations lose their religious and spiritual stability, religious integrity and religious security, political and economic stability disappears. If we do not want to be a country where every one of the mosques turns into a sect, every school turns into a party, every religious institution becomes a faction, then we need to keep our Organization of Religious Affairs like we protect our eyes.” (Mustafa Bikeç - ILKHA)

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