Women’s chapels spark great controversy in Algeria

Al-Shorouk newspaper reported that “women’s chapels continue to stir up sedition in mosques, after a number of imams re-closed them after they were opened last Ramadan under the pretext of measures to combat the Corona virus.”
In statements to Al-Shorouk, religious guides criticized the fact that most of the women’s chapels remained deserted without an excuse, and said: “We understand the closure of women’s chapels in small mosques, which diverts the Friday prayers for men, but many mosques across the country can accommodate thousands of worshipers in which women’s chapels remain closed. Because of the arbitrariness of the imams and some directors of religious affairs.

In this context, disputes arose at the level of mosque committees and associations of religious displaced women, who demanded the intervention of the Ministry to reopen a large number of women’s chapels that remained abandoned.

For his part, the head of the Independent National Council of Imams, Jamal Gul, pointed out that “there is no national regulation for the Ministry of Religious Affairs that prevents women from entering mosques, but rather leaves the field open to the discretionary authority of religious affairs directors, who can transfer women’s chapels to men in small mosques due to respect for distancing measures.

Jamal Gul explained, “However, there are many women’s chapels in large mosques that are still closed illegally. They did not allow women and did not open for men, so how do we allow women to pray Tarawih in the mosque at night and then prevent them from performing Friday prayers? Especially since a large number There are women who have a strong relationship with mosques, and Friday prayer represents an opportunity for them to guide and preach. There are open mosques for women and others that are forbidden, and this sometimes causes the surprise of women, many of whom did not digest this difference between the imams in preventing women from entering the house of God, especially with the existence of a health protocol that protects against infection with the epidemic inside mosques, such as sterilization, distance and wearing a mask. .

He stressed that “closing women’s chapels in many mosques means depriving mothers of literacy lessons, stopping preparatory lessons for children and many educational and religious activities carried out by religious guides and teachers in women’s chapels,” calling on the Ministry of Religious Affairs to “re-evaluate the health protocol in Mosques, which are witnessing great chaos, despite the recent order to tighten it.”

Jamal Gul stressed that “mosques depend on volunteers to enforce the health protocol, and this causes great embarrassment for the imams and those in charge of the mosque, in light of the absence of employees officially entrusted with this task, especially with the recent increase in cases of coronavirus infection, which requires greater strictness in monitoring mosques. And tightening preventive measures before going through the worst, and returning to closing mosques again.”