Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs has called a document widely circulated on social media platforms and purportedly forbidding imams from discussing Palestine in their sermons during Friday prayers a “forgery.”
“Some social media networks promoted a document that provided a directive to Ministry deputies to prevent imams from mentioning Palestine in mosques in Al Jumua prayer,” the Ministry stated in a press release Monday. “It is a forged document in every way.”
The Ministry warned against what it called a “heinous misbehavior.”
The false document claims that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs ordered that, due to the serious escalation in Gaza, to “safeguard the country’s security and stability,” and to “avoid the chaos of sympathy for Palestinians in public space,” all Friday imams in all of the mosques in the Kingdom were prohibited from “deliberating on recent events” in Gaza.
The document erroneously continues, “This prohibition is in the interest and preservation of our country’s diplomatic relations between the conflicting parties.”
In response to the Gaza crisis, King Mohammed VI, head of the Al-Quds Committee, ordered the distribution of emergency humanitarian aid–including food, water, and medical supplies–to the Palestinian people, reported Morocco’s foreign ministry on Monday.
The Royal Decision is part of King Mohammed VI’s ongoing commitment to the Palestinian cause, according to the announcement.
Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita had reaffirmed Morocco’s commitment to the peace, stability, progress and prosperity of all peoples, and its readiness to cooperate with international partners to end the dire situation in Gaza, which was evidenced by the Kingdom’s participation in the Cairo Peace Summit on Saturday.