UAE- FNC passes endowment law

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The Federal National Council (FNC) has passed a law that regulates all endowments in the country on Wednesday, making the UAE the first nation in the Arab and Muslim world to do so.

During an FNC session in Abu Dhabi, the council passed a new law to regulate endowments, placing it directly under the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (Awqaf), that helps ensure "no one takes advantage of those issuing endowments".

The newly adopted law stipulates that if someone has been appointed as a regulator and breaches the responsibility, can face a fine of Dh50,000 minimum, and/or at least 1 year in prison.

"Discussing this new federal law is a positive step," said Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, FNC Speaker.

Dr Al Qubaisi explained that the Awqaf is one of the most important foundations and institutions of philanthropy in the UAE and a cornerstone in the process of human development, thus ensuring that money, assets and values are protected are vital.

"The law recognises the exceptional importance of the entity's development, the dissemination of good deeds and the creation of a legislative environment instrumental to the endowment in our country," she said.

"We are honoured that this is the first draft law in this area that has been passed in the Arab and Islamic world," added Dr Al Qubaisi.

'Friday sermon needs to reach non-Arabic communities' Friday sermons should reach non-Arabic speakers to help spread culture of coexistence and tolerance, Federal National Council( FNC) has heard.

During FNC session chaired by Speaker Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalaita, member from Dubai, addressed a question to Dr Mohammed Matar Al Kaabi, chairman of the general Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments (Awqaf), about whether the authority can reach non-Arabic speakers when delivering Friday sermon.

"What is the plan to deliver Friday sermon for the largest segment of community members, who are not Arabic speakers?" He asked.

Dr Al Kaabi said that the authority is responsible for the development of religious awareness in the community, and is preparing an annual plan to raise the awareness of non-Arabic speaking communities: "To help spread the culture of coexistence and tolerance."

On the future plans, Dr Al Kaabi pointed out that a commission has been set up to establish a special section to translate the Friday sermon and prepare speeches for the communities in English, Urdu, Chinese, French and other languages.

"This is in accordance with the diversity of the nationalities and languages, and we are evaluating the performance of speakers in various languages."

He said there is also speech translation through smart application that allows the choice of the appropriate language.

Dr Al Kaabi explained that the authority brings out awareness publications annually, organises more than 26,000 religious lessons, in addition to regular lectures from preachers in mosques and gatherings.

The number of lectures is 570 annually. Special curricula and Quran memorisation centres are also devoted to non-religious teaching, he explained.

He said the centre receives about 400 questions in English and Urdu every day, and the number rises to almost 800 during the holy month of Ramadan, explaining that the number of fatwas for non-Arabic speakers reaches a whopping 500,000.

"The authority is also working on publications to spread religious and cultural awareness in Arabic, English, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam."

He said the commission has distributed 500,000 copies to the communities according to their languages. Dr Al Kaabi added that the commission also publishes the weekly sermon to translate into English and Urdu on the authority's website. "The Friday sermon is considered one of the most important means of communication with various groups of the society, in comparison to other prayers. It is a direct platform for communicating messages to the public," added Dr Al Kaabi.

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