Syria’s President Scraps Post of Mufti of Republic
The decree also abolished the post of the Mufti of Republic, held by Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, SANA reported.
According to the decree, the Awqaf minister of Syria is the president of the council and two of his deputies are its members.
Other members include head of the Union of Levant Scholars, first Sharia judge in Damascus, 30 top Syrian scholars representing all of the country’s denominations, a representative of Friday prayer leaders, five women Quran scholars, and representatives from religious universities.
The council is tasked, among other things, with announcing Fiqhi (Islamic jurisprudential) rules about religious issues and determining the beginning and end of lunar Hijri months.
The decision to scrap the position of Mufti of Republic came after an interpretation of a verse of the Quran by Hassoun that drew angry reactions by the council members who consider it distortion of the verse.
