Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Awami Itihaad Party on Tuesday launched a strong attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board over its reported move to introduce uniform Friday sermons across mosques, questioning the Board’s authority to interfere in religious affairs and to impose pre-decided topics on imams.
Party Chief Spokesperson Inam Un Nabi asked why the Board should decide what every imam must speak about. “The pulpit of a mosque is not an administrative desk, and an imam is not a spokesperson required to read out an approved script,” he said, describing the proposal as an unwarranted attempt to centralise control over religious discourse.
Inam Un Nabi said the Board must understand the difference between managing waqf institutions and dictating how religious scholars discharge their responsibilities. He questioned who had authorised the Board to decide what an imam should say to his congregation, arguing that religious guidance must be rooted in the Qur’an, the Sunnah and sound scholarship, not in administrative instructions. In his view, imams must retain the freedom to address injustice, corruption and the everyday concerns of their communities without being confined to a predetermined agenda.
He warned that compulsory uniformity could undermine the independence of religious scholars and weaken the relevance of Friday sermons to local realities. The Friday congregation holds a central place in the religious and social life of Kashmir, and sermons delivered in different localities have traditionally reflected the circumstances and concerns of the people who attend them. A single prescribed template, the party argued, risks distancing the pulpit from the communities it is meant to serve.
The party demanded that the Board disclose the proposed guidelines and clarify whether the arrangement would be mandatory for all mosques or merely advisory. Clarity on that point, it said, is essential before any such directive is rolled out, since the answer determines whether imams would be free to depart from the suggested topics.
“The Waqf Board should concentrate on protecting religious institutions and serving the community instead of venturing into areas where administrative control risks undermining scholarly independence,” Inam Un Nabi said. He added that managing waqf properties does not confer the authority to monopolise religious discourse, and that faith cannot be governed through approved talking points. The Friday pulpit, he said, must not become an instrument of official messaging.
The Awami Itihaad Party called on the authorities to reconsider any proposal that imposes compulsory uniformity, and urged that such a decision be taken only after meaningful consultation with qualified Islamic scholars. The Waqf Board has not been reported to have released the full details of the proposed arrangement, and the party’s demand for disclosure is likely to keep the issue under public discussion in the days ahead, as religious bodies, scholars and political groups weigh in on the question of who should shape the content of Friday sermons in Jammu and Kashmir.
