Several Muslim countries have decided to close their mosques and ban collective prayers to protect their populations from COVID-19. Tunisia issued the mandatory suspension of prayers on 15 March as it closed cafes and banned all cultural, sporting and economic gatherings. Likewise, Turkey announced on Monday the suspension until further notice of collective prayers in its mosques, including the Friday prayer. This will affect 90,000 or so mosques in Turkey. Morocco has also announced similar measures ordering mosque closures on 16 March.
The governments’ decision to close mosques in those countries came with heavy resistance from conservatives, in particular from the so-called Salafist movement. In Morocco, known Salafi personalities such as Abu Naim, Hassan El Kettani and Omar Haddouchi have all issued statements opposing the call. This is despite several fatwas, like that of the Superior Council of Muslim Scholars (Ulemas) in Morocco, issuing a favorable opinion.
In a Facebook video broadcast on Sunday, 15 March, the sheikh Abu Naim advised the Superior Council of the Ulemas “to rather focus on issuing such fatwas against the places of games of chance, bars and places debauchery (…) where the deadly diseases spread, instead of focusing on mosques.”
