Rabat – The Moroccan government has announced that 172 new mosques have been built this year in Morocco in 2021. Out of the total number, 157 of them were part of private initiative, and 15 mosques were financed by the Moroccan government, with an allocated budget of MAD 120 million ($12.9 million).
The Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Taoufik, made the announcement last week in the Chamber of Councillors, giving more details about the 2022 Finance bill on this sector.
“Morocco has around 51,000 mosques across its different cities, and it has allocated a budget of MAD 853 million ($82 million) to manage and maintain mosques, as well as to build new ones,” he said.
Through building more mosques, the government aims “to eliminate places of worship in poor conditions, both in urban and rural areas,” the minister stressed.
Mosques in Morocco were closed on March 16, 2020 as part of the country’s strict restrictions to end the spread of the pandemic. However, there was a partial relaxation of measures in July of the same year after a decline in COVID-19 cases.
In 2020, the ministry asked for an additional financial budget for the 2020-2022 period. The ministry said it needed MAD 1 billion ($104 million) to meet renovation demands.
At that time, Ahmed Taoufik said that if the government refused to meet his demands, the ministry would be obliged to suspend most new projects for mosques, administrative and cultural complexes, as well as traditional Quranic schools.
The 2020 Finance Law allocated MAD 2.86 billion ($298 million) for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs adopted by the two houses of the Moroccan parliament.
Worldwide, there are approximately 3.6 million mosques, with each mosque massing approximately 500 worshippers.
According to Pew Research Center, the number of Muslims worldwide will grow to 2.76 billion, or 29.7 percent of world’s population, by 2050.
