Saudi Arabia is set to train mosque imams and preachers to resist extremist ideologies in a new government-run program. The program begins this week and will include 20 simultaneous sessions in the capital city of Riyadh and its surrounding provinces. An officer of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs Ahmad Fouad of told the Media Line that authorities are bringing in the most senior scholars in Saudi Arabia to give this training and twenty lectures will be delivered in and around Riyadh under the scheme. Over the past eight years, the ministry has been implementing educational programs for mosque personnel, including preachers, imams and muezzins (those who give the call for prayers), stressing the importance of citizenship and intellectual security.