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The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) has strongly condemned Israel’s closure of Masjid Al-Aqsa, calling it a ‘grave escalation’ and warning it signals a deeper attempt to control Islamic holy sites in Al-Quds.
By SAYED RIDHWAAN MOHAMED
While the world remains gripped by geopolitical chaos and many international powers maintain a conspicuous silence regarding ongoing Israeli atrocities, the Muslim leadership of South Africa has issued a defiant and clear-eyed challenge to the status quo.
The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) has issued a stinging condemnation of the recent closure of Masjid Al-Aqsa by Israeli occupation authorities, labelling the move a ‘grave escalation’ and an ‘act of war’ carried out through administrative and security measures. The council asserts that the closure is part of a deliberate political and religious project aimed at consolidating Israeli control over Islamic holy sites in Al-Quds.
On Saturday, February 28, 2026, at approximately 11:30am, Israeli police reportedly stormed Masjid Al-Aqsa, expelled worshippers, and announced its closure until further notice, citing wartime ‘precautionary measures’. This action took place less than one hour after authorities ordered the closure of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil.
UUCSA has dismissed the ‘safety’ justification as ‘deeply disingenuous’, noting that Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem lack public shelters and protective infrastructure.
Nearly 46 per cent of Palestinians living in the territories occupied in 1948 have no access to air-raid shelters. Preventing worshippers from entering the Masjid while leaving them exposed in homes and markets cannot plausibly be framed as a measure for their protection.
A strategy of ‘religious replacement’
The council alleges that these closures are driven by an ideological framework of ‘Religious Zionism’ that seeks to displace the existing Islamic reality of these sacred spaces. According to UUCSA, imposing emergency regulations serves two strategic objectives:
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Entrenching sovereignty: Establishing that decisions to open or close the sites lie solely with the Israeli government, thereby marginalising the Islamic and Palestinian Waqf authorities.
Deepening isolation: Testing the feasibility of controlling and closing the mosques whenever political circumstances allow, specifically during the sacred month of Ramadan.
The closure is viewed not as an isolated incident, but as the latest step in a decade-long effort to seize authority from the Waqf administration. The council identified a systematic policy aimed at reshaping the status of Al-Aqsa through four main avenues: controlling its administration, expanding temporal division of prayer times, advancing spatial division within the compound, and entrenching permanent security domination.
Quoting Palestinian leader Kamal Khatib, the statement warned: ‘Whatever the rounds and arenas of this war may be… here lies the gateway to war, or the doorway to peace’. UUCSA called for urgent physical and spiritual mobilisation during the remainder of Ramadan.
About UUCSA
Established in 1994, the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) serves as a national umbrella body representing a diverse network of major Muslim judicial councils and theological organisations across the country. UUCSA aims to ensure a unified voice for the South African ulama on critical domestic and international issues.
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