fbpx

Fear and uncertainty in Yemen’s Mosques

Houthis tighten control through the pulpit and the preacher.
[additional-authors]
June 23, 2015

This article originally appeared on The Media Line.

SANA'A – One hour after each prayer session must be dedicated to condemning Saudi Arabia’s air campaign. Imams in all mosques will preach sermons advocating key principles, and will not deviate from the prescribed message.

These are several of the new measures being enforced by the Houthi, the armed Shi’ite faction that has taken control of much of Yemen. Previously The Media Line has reported how the group has used restrictions on the press and wanted-lists to intimidate the population into conforming to its ideals: now it appears that mosques are the next tool.

Since the Houthi took control of Sana’a in September of last year it has imposed its religious and sectarian doctrine over the city, bringing Yemen’s capital into line with the cities the group already controlled in the north of the country. Any individuals resisting the group’s religious tenets are reportedly condemned as either infidels or affiliates of the Islamic State (ISIS).

The most recent diktat from the Shi’ite faction is that following each evening’s prayers in the mosque radio broadcasts, beseeching God to damn the Saudi led air campaign, are played from the city’s minarets.

“Controlling the mosques was a priority for the Houthis upon entering Sana’a,” Qaid Mohammed Qaid, director of the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Guidance, told The Media Line. “The ministry, like all other ministries, is under the Houthis control, which is a normal thing in this period,” he said, rather nervously.

Qaid admitted that the acting minister for the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Guidance had been put in place by the Houthi and that a number of imams had been selected by the group to preach in key mosques.

Houthi fighters came to the mosque and forcibly installed a speaker, Hassan Mahdi, imam of Al-Nour Mosque, told The Media Line. The speaker plays during the evening between the Maghreb and Ashaa (the fourth and fifth call to prayers) and airs Sam FM broadcasts, Mahdi said. Sam FM is a radio station affiliated with the Houthi.

“In the beginning we rejected this and tried to stop it, but they forced it on us – their gunmen entered the mosque,” Mahdi explained, adding that once the broadcast started and he realized it was prayer recital he was less concerned, “that made it less invasive to us”.

Imams throughout Sana’a have received instructions from the Houthi dictating to them a list of subjects which must be preached during Friday prayers. Sermons on Friday are the most important in the Muslim week and will be attended by the largest number of worshipers. No preacher would violate the Houthi's orders, Mahdi explained, adding that on more than one occasion an imam has been pulled down from the pulpit and replaced by a Houthi speaker.

Some residents have been angered at the increased noise. “Previously around this time of day we used to hear nothing from the mosques,” Adullah Al-Wejrah, a resident whose local mosque now sports the new Houthi speakers, told The Media Line. “Even if there was a sermon, the sound would be limited to the inside of the mosque and not outside it. Right now we hear the noise from every mosque annoying the neighbors and the passersby,” he complained.

Other Yemenites were angered at the use of mosques as a show of control over the capital. “By imposing this, the Houthi wants to send a message: that it controls all mosques in Sana’a and that people should pray for it (in its fight) against the Arab-coalition,” Radhwan Al-Matari, a resident of the capital, told The Media Line. “It uses the House’s of God, for its own political interests and personal gains – using religion and mosques, this is unacceptable.”

Al-Matari was most chagrined by the inclusion of prayers wishing for the damnation of the Saudis in Sam FM’s broadcasts. Under Islamic custom, a Muslim should not pray for a person’s – even an enemy’s – damnation, as this would deny him God’s mercy if it were granted.

But not all residents of Sana’a objected to the changes in the city’s mosques. “We have reached a point that we feel helpless, and the only thing we can do is pray and call on God to help us,” Majid Al-Nehim, a local resident, told The Media Line. “It is a beautiful thing that all mosques in Sana’a be united in broadcasting Sam FM’s prayers,” Al-Nehim said, asking why anybody would deny a group the right to pray to God as a community.

Any recent amendments to the way prayers were conducted in Sana’a’s mosques were completely voluntary, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi's political office, told The Media Line. “There is no obligation to participate in the hour of prayers against the Saudi aggression – it’s a personal initiative from groups of young men who suggested to their imams that they cooperate with us by broadcasting Sam FM’s radio channel.” No punishment will be directed at imams or mosques that choose not to take part, Al-Bukhaiti added.

Significantly, an expected ban on the Tarawih prayer to coincide with the start of Ramadan has not taken place. The Tarawih is not conducted by Shi’ite Muslims, as it was not introduced by the Prophet Mohammed himself, and so there was widespread concern among Yemen’s Sunni that the Houthi would ban it for the start of Ramadan. If a ban had been imposed it might have had significant implications for sectarian relations in the country.

Although the Houthi does not consider the Tarawih to have any basis in Islam it did not ban the prayer, Al-Bukhaiti said, because its fighters believed in religious freedoms.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.