Ministry slams report on ‘Quran singing incident’

Manama: Education Ministry yesterday slammed a parliamentary report that was issued in relation to a controversial incident, which occurred during a private school’s talents show last year.

The incident, popularly known as the “Quran singing scandal,” took place last March. It created a huge public controversy that a parliamentary committee was formed to investigate it.

However, the committee publicised its report on the incident one year later, on last Friday. The report irked the Ministry as it claimed that “there are several fallacies and baseless accusations mentioned in the report.”

DT News reported earlier that a video was widely circulated on local social networks last March, showing a student singing verses of the Holy Quran, while others were playing musical instruments.

This act was highly condemned by a large section of the society, as it was considered as an insult to the Holy Book and against the teachings of Islam.

Following the public outrage, the Public Prosecution soon announced that several individuals involved in the incident, including a student and two teachers, were remanded in custody pending further investigations.

Additionally, legislators agreed on March 17 to form a committee to investigate the incident.

The committee said in its report on Friday that it is focusing on following up with the Ministry to take the necessary procedures to prevent such incidents from recurring.

It issued several recommendations that included promoting Islamic teachings among students, taking disciplinary procedures against the people involved in the incident, obliging organisers of cultural events to look into the participating programmes and tightening supervision on such events.

The Ministry stressed in a statement issued yesterday that it fundamentally rejects naming the issue as the “Quran singing incident” as mentioned in the committee’s report.

“It’s nothing more than a religious litany. What was circulated was only a part of it and the Ministry provided the committee with the full recording of the incident,” the Ministry said.

It also reaffirmed its keenness on strengthening Quranic and Islamic teachings in the existing curricula by introducing new subjects and organising Islamic competitions and events.

However, no information was available about the involved student and teachers, who were detained, as previously announced. The matter will be discussed intensively during today’s weekly Parliament meeting.