Taroudante - Moroccan preacher Abdellah Nahari posted a video on YouTube saying that women should be allowed to pray alongside men in mosques without any curtain or screen separating them. When asked whether “women are allowed to pray behind men without screen,” the Moroccan cleric said that mixed-gender prayers are allowed in Islam, provided that women pray behind men.

Taroudante – Moroccan preacher Abdellah Nahari posted a video on YouTube saying that women should be allowed to pray alongside men in mosques without any curtain or screen separating them.

When asked whether “women are allowed to pray behind men without screen,” the Moroccan cleric said that mixed-gender prayers are allowed in Islam, provided that women pray behind men.

The cleric stressed that “women used to pray behind the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH),” calling people to allow women to pray inside the same place of worship.

The Imam of Kawtar Mosque in Ouajda added that allowing women to pray behind men in mosques is “a form of openness we really need.”

Nhari said that “we have to worry more about mixed crowds inside buses and souks than inside mosques.”

Before Nahari, controversial Moroccan Islamist preacher Abdel Bari Zamzami went further denying “the existence of any legal text in the Qur’an and Sunnah that prevents women from leading men in prayers or giving Friday sermons or praying together with men in the mosque.”

Last November, Ani Zonneveld, founder and president of the faith-based, human rights organization, “Muslims for Progressive Values” (MPV), visited Morocco and stirred controversy over her advocacy for the establishment of female imams.

The Malaysian-American activist called for mixed-gender prayers and the right of Moroccan women to lead prayers in mosques and give sermons during Friday prayers, claiming that her principles are based on the Quran.