Salafist Scholar Sparks Outrage Over Amazigh New Year Ban Claim

"It is not permissible for a Muslim who believes in God and the Day of Judgment and follows the precepts of the Prophet Muhammad to celebrate what is called the Amazigh New Year," he wrote on his Twitter account. Justifying his position, the president of the Alliance of Ulemas of the Maghreb, also a member of the Alliance of Muslim Ulemas, said that Muslim preachers have prohibited the celebration of any feast existing before the advent of Islam, whether Arab, Amazigh, Persian or even Christian.

This fatwa sparked a lively controversy. On the web, Sheikh Hassan was subjected to insults. Some Internet users reminded him of his past as a "preacher of terrorists." He was one of the Salafist sheikhs convicted following the May 16 Casablanca attacks, and who benefited from a royal pardon between 2011 and 2012.

This Moroccan preacher is known for his controversial statements. Last September, he had defended a fqih from Tangier accused of having committed sexual assaults on children. When the new coronavirus appeared, he had explained that the disease is "to be linked to the multiplication of turpitudes (of fahicha) throughout the world." Hence the need to pray rather than get vaccinated.