Conference in Sliven brought together over 100 imams

      On November 16, Thursday, in the town of Sliven was held a conference entitled “The active imam” which was planned by “Irshad” Department at Grand Mufti’s Office and implemented in cooperation with Regional Mufti’s Office – Sliven.

The conference is the first of its kind where imams from entire Bulgaria meet and discuss current problems related to their work.

       The conference was attended by the Grand Mufti of the Muslims in the Republic of Bulgaria Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi, the Deputy Grand Muftis Ahmed Hasanov and Birali Birali and some of the regional muftis.

      There also participated imams from all regions of the country. The conference was held in three panels. In the first panel participated Mehmed Salimehmedov, Sunay Ramadan and Nazif Nazif who addressed the topics about the preparation and the responsibility of the imam, requirements for the behavior and the morality of the successful imam and the motivation to work.

       In the second panel participated the speakers Beyhan MEhmedov, Izet Dzhalev and Mohamed Kamber who spoke about the personal and professional qualities of the imam, about the importance of the khutbah (sermon) and the disciplining and teaching in the summer and year-round Qur’an courses.

      During the third panel speakers were Selim Mehmed, Ekrem Hodzhev and Hayri Sherifov on the topics of janazah (funeral), mawlid, social and cultural events and sport.

         The conference was aimed at young people because “We wanted this to be a small investment for the young people and for the society a whole. Imams must keep up with the times in which they live”, said Halil Hodzhov – Head of “Irshad” Department at the Denomination.

         The organizers share that the aim of the program as a whole was to show the experience of the other imams, to give a model of a successful imam who is successful for working for the needs of the time in which he lives, i.e. he uses modern methods for communication with people.

        During the conference some of the important questions were: “Who is the imam?” “What he has to do?” And the most important “How does he do that?”

        After completion of the discussions all speakers received plaques for their participation in the conference.

Yuzlem Tefikova