Donors have built 160 new mosques in Morocco this year, but the minister of Islamic affairs has asked them to donate towards another project.
Rabat – Minister of Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq has called on Moroccan philanthropists to help renovate old mosques instead of building new ones.
Toufiq said Tuesday that about 1,000 mosques need to be renovated while speaking at a religious ceremony organized by the ministry on Morocco’s Day of Mosques.
Renovating all the mosques will cost MAD 1 billion.
He added that renovating a mosque is the moral equivalent of building a new one, and it is better to renovate two or three mosques for the cost of building one mosque.
Toufiq called on philanthropists to respect the architectural design of the mosques and not to change them.
He also invited donors to coordinate with the ministry during the construction process, explaining that if they modify the design of the mosque, they will not get permission to open the mosque after construction is completed.
Toufiq asserted that Moroccans still frequently donate towards building mosques, especially small and medium-sized mosques.
However, the minister revealed that 185 mosques were built across Morocco in 2018, 160 of which were built by single donors.
