mosques Archives - Voice of the Cape

France reveals details of controversial ‘separatism’ bill

France’s draft law aimed at tackling what the government terms “Islamist radicalism” was unveiled on Wednesday. President Emmanuel Macron has promoted the bill to target what he calls “separatists” undermining the nation, but rights groups have raised concerns over the law, saying it would discriminate against French Muslims. Among notable measures is making school obligatory from age three with the ability to opt-out in favour of homeschooling for special cases […]

10 December 2020

International News

Israel turning mosques into synagogues, bars

One of the landmarks of Tiberias, the mosque, also known as the Zaydani mosque, was built on the Mameluke architecture, with a big dome and a minaret. “Like most Palestinians, the Tiberias residents have fled to Syria and Lebanon following the Nakba,” Kamal Khatib of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, told Anadolu Agency. “The Zaydani family, however, moved to the adjacent city of Nazareth,” he said. […]

29 July 2020

News

Masajid urged to remain closed for now: MJC

The Muslim Judicial Council (SA) has urged masajid to remain closed, given concern around the expected peak of the coronavirus. At the start of level 3 of the lockdown, the MJC advised Masajid to remain closed for the month of June as the Western Cape, however, some mosques chose to open. The MJC also advised masajid in the identified hotspots to remain closed until the situation in those areas improved. […]

1 July 2020

News

Handful of mosques host Jumuah for the first time during lockdown

“Alhamdullilah” was the emphatic words of some of the musallees who finally stepped foot into the masjid after 70 days of lockdown in South Africa. A handful of mosques in Cape Town opened their duas for Jumuah - the first Friday prayer during level 3 of the lockdown, in which many restrictions have been eased. Masjidul Khair in Rondevlei in Mitchells Plain had a turnout of 40 people, who entered […]

5 June 2020

News

Several CT mosques make a proactive decision to stay closed during pandemic

A handful of masajid in Cape Town have decided to remain closed, despite the easing of restrictions on congregational religious activity. On Tuesday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that places of worship will be reopened from the 1 June, as part of level 3 of lockdown regulations. However, he said religious spaces must ensure strict hygiene and social distancing measures – in a bid to curtail the spread of the […]

28 May 2020

News

Mixed reaction from religious leaders to the reopening of places of worship

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged citizens to join in a national day of prayer and meditation on Sunday. This comes as places of worship can now open under level three lockdown subject to strict restrictions. Ramaphosa says it is important for citizens to once again come together and pray for the healing of the country and its people. He adds that prayer will comfort and strengthen the nation in this […]

27 May 2020

Opinions

A note about opening the mosques

This opinion piece was written by Fatima Fatima Est for the Daily Vox. More than a thousand years ago, some men wrote against the presence of women at mosques. Contrary to the Prophetic practice where men and women prayed together in the mosque even at night, the accretions of the legal opinions of these scholars over time concluded that women must be excluded from the mosques. Their reasoning – to […]

26 April 2020

International News

US mosques affected by coronavirus lockdown

Imam Jamal Kakar has spent the last 20 years serving the needs of northern Virginia's Muslim community. Before the coronavirus pandemic, he could usually be found at the Madina Islamic Center in Springfield, often wearing a neutral coloured shalwar kameez - a tunic-style top and loose pants - along with a dark vest and a traditional prayer cap, known as a kufi. A towering and well-liked figure among Virginia's 170,000 […]

22 April 2020

News

UUCSA applies to be friend of the court in mosque matter

The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) has applied to be a friend of the court in the High Court, should a bid to have mosques reopened be heard. It comes after Johannesburg advocate Zehir Omar threatened to approach the courts to have the regulations, which prohibit mosques from being open during the lockdown, overturned. Omar represents the Mujlisul Ulama of South Africa and the Jamiatul Ulama (not the […]

17 April 2020

mosques

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