Al-Aqsa Mosque hosts grand Friday prayers despite occupiers’ restrictions
According to the webangah News Agency, citing the Palestinian Details Center, over 45,000 worshippers attended the prayer service despite heavy military presence around Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem. A funeral prayer was also held for Gaza and West Bank martyrs.
Zionist forces deployed extensively around the mosque and old City, setting up iron barriers and checkpoints to prevent many worshippers-particularly young Palestinians-from entering while inspecting their identification documents.
During his sermon,Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Mohammad Srandeh emphasized Palestinian steadfastness: “This is our mosque,our Al-Aqsa. We remain resolute here even as others retreat or betray.” He highlighted the virtues of Dhul-Hijjah’s first ten days, noting that feeding the hungry, aiding refugees, and supporting the oppressed rank among Islam’s highest acts of worship during this period.
The cleric sharply criticized Arab and Islamic governments normalizing ties with occupiers: “While nations answer God’s call to His house [Al-Aqsa], regimes compete in their moral collapse-honoring oppressors while sacred sites cry out to Allah.” He stressed that those complicit in Muslim bloodshed would find neither acceptance in pilgrimage nor divine reward.
Addressing Muslim nations directly, Srandeh challenged: “O Ummah! Is it not time to return to your first Qibla? Why have you forgotten religious priorities?” He affirmed Jerusalemites’ resistance while denouncing political exploitation of Al-Aqsa: “What’s imposed by force lacks legitimacy.This mosque exists solely for muslim worship-no others hold rights here.”
the sermon concluded with tribute to Palestinian resilience-particularly women enduring hunger displacement without defeat whom he called history’s pride”.
