The Media Office of the Religious Council and the Sheikh Aql of the Druze monotheistic faith (Tawhid) issued the following clarification regarding the endowment of the town of Al-Mtein
2020-10-14
Since some are persistently distorting the truth regarding the endowment topic in the town of Al-Mtein, it is important for us to point out again that the endowment report in the town of Al-Mtein was organized nearly two hundred years ago, as a result of disagreements at the time according to what is observed of its content. As today some of the Sheikhs and the people are calling for amending it, new conflicts have arisen which can be summarized with the following:
First: The court stipulated the appointment of two waqf agents, one of them from the Al-Qantar family and the other from the family of Al-Ballout or Mirdas, both to be people of knowledge, piety and religion, with important details in this regard. The people of Al-Mtein are demanding the appointment of six representatives, three of the Qantar family and three of the other families, and they have chosen several committees of this number by consensus, and the pre-requisite of religion and piety is no longer available to everyone.
Second: The endowment for the town of Al-Mtein is endowed with its mosque (its temple), but the Druze of Al-Mtein benefit of it all. During the identification and editing process, a mistake occurred in the registration, an objection was submitted and the matter is still pending before the real estate judge. Some Sheikhs insist on naming the endowment of the Al-Mtein Mosque, and among the general public are those who demand the endowment of the Druze of al-Mtein, and this can only be resolved by consensus or before the courts.
Third: Sheikh Salami al-Qantar kept a copy of a joint guardian license with Sheikh Abu Salah Asad al-Qantar signed by the late Sheikh al-Aql, Bahjat Ghaith, and he did not inform the current office of Sheikh Al-Aql about it. He used it in from tof the court to raise law suits. Note that Sheikh Abu Salah Asad Al-Qantar is the head of the Al-Mtein Council, and this is established by convention and law. He carried a license signed by his Eminence, the late Sheikh Muhammad Abu Shaqra approved by the current office of his Eminence Sheikh Al-Aql; he was also charged again with this mission.
Fourth: As a result of a disagreement that occurred between the treasurer and the accountant in the last committee in 2017, there was an insistence on the part of some to dismiss the accountant without proving his guilt before the courts, as stipulated in the endowment warrant. Sheikh Salami al-Qantar intervened in instituting cases by authorizing his son, Khattar al-Qantar, the beginning of which was a request to correct the endowment name and then hold the accountant guilty, but he raised as well the authority of the sectarian council and Sheikh Al-Aql to supervise the endowments. More than four cases with different judicial references have branched from the first case.
Fifth: We reaffirm the content of the statements issued on 7/3/2019 and 4/20/2019. The income of the endowment in Al-Mtein remained at the rate it reached, and its income in the year 2019 was 587,000,000 LBP. (Five hundred eighty-seven million Lebanese pounds), which are all being spent in the town of Al-Mtein.
Beirut on: 14/10/2020.
First: The court stipulated the appointment of two waqf agents, one of them from the Al-Qantar family and the other from the family of Al-Ballout or Mirdas, both to be people of knowledge, piety and religion, with important details in this regard. The people of Al-Mtein are demanding the appointment of six representatives, three of the Qantar family and three of the other families, and they have chosen several committees of this number by consensus, and the pre-requisite of religion and piety is no longer available to everyone.
Second: The endowment for the town of Al-Mtein is endowed with its mosque (its temple), but the Druze of Al-Mtein benefit of it all. During the identification and editing process, a mistake occurred in the registration, an objection was submitted and the matter is still pending before the real estate judge. Some Sheikhs insist on naming the endowment of the Al-Mtein Mosque, and among the general public are those who demand the endowment of the Druze of al-Mtein, and this can only be resolved by consensus or before the courts.
Third: Sheikh Salami al-Qantar kept a copy of a joint guardian license with Sheikh Abu Salah Asad al-Qantar signed by the late Sheikh al-Aql, Bahjat Ghaith, and he did not inform the current office of Sheikh Al-Aql about it. He used it in from tof the court to raise law suits. Note that Sheikh Abu Salah Asad Al-Qantar is the head of the Al-Mtein Council, and this is established by convention and law. He carried a license signed by his Eminence, the late Sheikh Muhammad Abu Shaqra approved by the current office of his Eminence Sheikh Al-Aql; he was also charged again with this mission.
Fourth: As a result of a disagreement that occurred between the treasurer and the accountant in the last committee in 2017, there was an insistence on the part of some to dismiss the accountant without proving his guilt before the courts, as stipulated in the endowment warrant. Sheikh Salami al-Qantar intervened in instituting cases by authorizing his son, Khattar al-Qantar, the beginning of which was a request to correct the endowment name and then hold the accountant guilty, but he raised as well the authority of the sectarian council and Sheikh Al-Aql to supervise the endowments. More than four cases with different judicial references have branched from the first case.
Fifth: We reaffirm the content of the statements issued on 7/3/2019 and 4/20/2019. The income of the endowment in Al-Mtein remained at the rate it reached, and its income in the year 2019 was 587,000,000 LBP. (Five hundred eighty-seven million Lebanese pounds), which are all being spent in the town of Al-Mtein.
Beirut on: 14/10/2020.
