Call to close Kuwait's Sharia college

A Kuwaiti MP has called for the closure of Kuwait University’s Sharia faculty, claiming it is breeding extremist ideology.

MP Salah Ashour claimed graduates were not interested in the fields that the college was set-up to train them for, such as working at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs or as Imams at mosques.

He said they were using their Sharia certificates to gain jobs in the Public Prosecution and in the investigations, fatwa and legislative departments despite not having legal qualifications.

The college had become a “haven” for extremism and supported “strange ideologies”, a translation of his Arabic statement published by Arab Times said.



Islamists criticised the MPs comments as encouraging divisions within Kuwaiti society.

MP Humoud Al Hamdan said there was no evidence to suggest the college supported extremism, and said that rather, it focused on moderate and tolerant thinking.

Fellow Islamist MP, Abdulrahman Al Jeeran, said the labour market needed sharia graduates, while MP Saud Al Huraiji said closing the college was “a red line we will not allow anyone to approach”, Kuwait Times reported.