RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Politicians and activists in Morocco are questioning restrictions placed on preachers on what they can say about wars in the Middle East during sermons.

During a meeting in the country’s parliament this week, socialist legislators Nabila Mounib lamented the way imams were restricted in how they can speak about the plight of the Palestinians and called for religious struggle to support their cause.

“No imam can speak on the Palestinian issue,” Mounib claimed on Tuesday. “Today no one calls for jihad for our brothers in Palestine.”

Since the Israel-Hamas war began 14 months ago, activists have similarly worried about the limits of preaching about Palestinians. Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs said in a statement last October that a document circulating on social media claiming to outline such borders was false and highlighted Morocco’s support for the Palestinian cause.

In an interview with Moroccan newspaper Anfas Press on Friday, Mounib said she had intended to condemn efforts to prevent imams from preaching about Palestinians but had not said they would call for jihad from their pulpits.

“Jihad,” which means struggle or effort in Arabic, can denote striving to live according to God’s way, either by internally finding one’s faith or externally fighting for Islamic principles such as justice. However, it can be interpreted in more militant terms as “holy war” and has been used by some as a religious term used to recruit volunteers to fight since the Soviet–Afghan War began in 1979.

The debate is about whether it should be permissible to invoke jihad in connection with the war between Israel and Hamas.

Minister of Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq later denied Mounib’s claim that preachers cannot address the war between Israel and Hamas, but acknowledged and defended the ban on calls for jihad.

“Any imam who speaks of barbarism and injustice and condemns them is welcome, but calling for jihad is something else,” he said.

Toufiq explained the ban this week, warning that there were different interpretations of jihad.

But for some pro-Palestinian activists in Morocco, the restrictions are less about jihad and more about state-society tensions that have simmered since the war began.

“Imams have the right to take a stand and, in Islam, even have a duty,” Ahmed Wehman of the Moroccan Anti-Normalization Observatory told The Associated Press. “The government has nothing to do with Moroccan public opinion. They do not represent Morocco and Moroccans.”

Morocco has one of the region’s most historically significant Jewish communities and was one of four Arab states normalize ties with Israel in 2020. But tens of thousands of protesters have regularly taken to the streets of their major cities throughout the 14-month war, protested Israel’s actions and demanded that Morocco cut diplomatic ties.

Protests have united socialists like Mounib with Islamists, including those from the Justice and Development Party and Al Adl Wal Ihsane, a banned but tolerated Islamist movement that does not participate in electoral politics. Some of its members has faced arrest and prison for having opinions on social media about Morocco’s ties with Israel amid the war.

Many governments dictate what preachers can say from the pulpit in Muslim-majority countries, including Morocco, which has long worked to portray its brand of Islam to the world as a moderating force. Doing so is among the authorities’ strategies to curb extremism but can sometimes push believers to seek spiritual guidance outside the government-controlled religious sphere.

Francesco Cavatorta, a professor of political science at Université Laval in Quebec, said countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Syria have historically exercised control over imams to control the religion’s narrative and ensure that sermons do not undermine national stability.

In Morocco, he said, the regulation is “part of an effort to be seen as a country that is a Muslim country but a tolerant country and a welcoming country.”

This year, Morocco has suspended preachers who deviate from directives. Its Ministry of Islamic Affairs publishes guidance for imams on Wednesdays, two days before Friday prayers.

The content of sermons has previously pitted the government against activists. In 2017, as anti-government protests swept Morocco’s north, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs called on preachers to reprimand activists for promoting division among Muslims, online media outlet Le Desk reported. Nasser Zefzafi, the country’s most famous political prisoner, was arrested later that year after interrupting a sermon about the protests and shouting a question about whether mosques served God or the monarchy.

Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.

Imams throughout the Middle East and North Africa have regularly referenced the war since October 2023, including in countries where the government monitors their preaching.

“The way to eliminate oppression and evil, wherever it is in the world, is through the unity and solidarity of Muslims,” ​​Ali Erbas, head of the Turkish Presidency for Religious Affairs, said in a Friday sermon in Azerbaijan. “When Muslims act together with the consciousness of brotherhood and the spirit of solidarity, all people will find peace.”

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Akram Oubachir and Suzan Fraser contributed reports from Casablanca, Morocco and Ankara, Turkey.