BEIRUT: Omar Miskawi, the deputy head of the Higher Islamic Council, called for convening a meeting Saturday, despite Grand Mufti Sheikh Rashid Qabbani’s objection, the National News Agency reported.

Miskawi said that the council must convene at 10 a.m. at Dar al-Fatwa, and if the quorum to hold a meeting was not secured, then the council must reconvene an hour later at the same place.

He added that if Qabbani prohibits members of the council from entering the building, then the meeting must be held at the office of council member Bassam Barghout in the Beirut neighborhood of Sanayeh.

When Miskawi tried to hold a meeting last month, Qabbani responded with a letter arguing that since the body’s term had expired, the council meeting could not be held.

“I tell you that Decree 18 of 1955 [which regulates the religious affairs of the Sunni sect] prevents me from convening a regular or a special session ... as it doesn’t stipulate that the council can convene after its term is over,” Qabbani said in the Jan. 18 letter.