«And the earth has been made for me a mosque and a purifier»
News:
The prevention of high school students in the Hammamet area of Tunisia from performing prayers in the schoolyard during recess sparked widespread controversy after its headmistress asked them to perform their prayers at home, justifying this by saying that the school is a place for education, not worship. According to a widely circulated video, the situation escalated into a verbal argument between her and the students, where one of them expressed his displeasure by saying, "This is my Lord's land, not yours!" confirming his colleagues' adherence to their right to perform the obligatory prayer inside the school.
Comment:
Tunisia remains the scene of a conflict between secularism and feminist movements and religion, since Bourguiba and Ben Ali deliberately obscured Islam from generations, and made it a secular state subject to civil positive laws in all aspects of life, even social and educational ones. Instructions refused to publish any religious topic through official media, including the transmission of prayers and the call to prayer via television. Girls were prohibited from wearing the khimar, in addition to preventing veiled women from being appointed in official government departments. Ben Ali's regime also prohibited congregational prayers in mosques except under special conditions from the intelligence services. It was forbidden to use loudspeakers to raise the call to prayer. Likewise, polygamy was prohibited even if the woman was infertile, and strict restrictions were imposed on those wishing to go to perform the Hajj. On the educational level, the establishment of religious schools and Quran memorization schools was prohibited, in addition to preventing the teaching of Islamic education in all stages...
After the overthrow of the tyrant Ben Ali about 12 years ago, not much has changed, unfortunately, because it was not a revolution based on implementing God's law on earth, and it entered into the throes of conflicts, disagreements, and interests. But people are thirsty for Islam and its application, as it is the religion of instinct. The incident of rejecting students from being prevented from praying is an example of this. The incident received great interaction, especially after the video was published on the Internet, as the number of supporters of the students' position was large, as prayer is an obligation and a religious right that should not be restricted. Others commented that the headmistress is right in that schools are places for learning and not places for worship and religious rituals, and that the place of prayer is only the mosque or the house! Others said that if they wanted to pray, they should demand that the ministry allocate places for that. The National Observatory for the Defense of the State's Civil Status issued a statement in which it considered this incident to be extremely serious due to the clear mixing of what is religious, personal, and sacred, and what is civil, public, and legal. It stressed that mosques and places of worship are the natural place for religious rites, while the school remains exclusively dedicated to science and knowledge.
They say these fallacies while they are in a Muslim country whose people are Muslim and whose religion is Islam, in which prayer is one of its most important pillars and must be performed on time in any place, in fulfillment of His saying: ﴿Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times﴾. And our Messenger ﷺ says: «And the earth has been made for me a mosque and a purifier», and he did not stop performing it even in war. And these people come and prevent students from performing the obligatory prayer and tell them to pray in their homes! And the Lord of Glory says to them: ﴿That they may bear their own burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection and some of the burdens of those whom they misguide without knowledge. Unquestionably, evil is that which they bear.﴾.
But no matter what they do, try, and do, Islam will rise as it was, despite the disbelievers and their helpers, and despite the secularists and those who followed in their footsteps. Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.
Written for the media office of The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Muslimah Al-Shami (Um Suhaib)
