Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, the preacher at Al-Aqsa Mosque for 43 years, is banned from entering Al-Aqsa until January 2026
On Wednesday, the occupation authorities delivered to the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, a decision banning him from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months, from July 25, 2025, until January 25, 2026.
Sheikh Mohammad Hussein explained that the ban came after he delivered his last sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque on July 25, during which he was suspected of "posing a danger to the public."
The sheikh rejected this accusation, asserting to investigators, "I do not pose any danger to Al-Aqsa or its people. We are their security. This is our mosque and our place of worship."
The sheikh added that after the hearing, the ban remained in effect, and today he was handed the order signed by the commander of the occupation police in Jerusalem. He clarified that he did not sign the charge against him related to "posing a danger to Al-Aqsa."
In an interview with the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem, he said: "I have not and will not pose any threat to Al-Aqsa. I have been preaching there for 43 years, and I have worked there for more than 55 years in various positions, the last of which was as director of Al-Aqsa. The decision to deport me, like any other Israeli decision, is not based on any legal justification, and we will remain the guardians and trustees of Al-Aqsa."
On July 25, Israeli occupation forces arrested Sheikh Mohammad Hussein from Al-Aqsa Mosque immediately after Friday prayers. They took him through the Dung Gate to the Al-Buraq Wall area, where he was detained at a detention center. He was released on condition that he be kept out of the mosque until Sunday, July 27. After attending a hearing at the Al-Qishla Center, he was informed that he would be banned from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque for a week. Today, his lawyer informed him of the ban.
These measures followed Sheikh Hussein's Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa, in which he addressed the "starvation" policy imposed on Palestinians, saying that they "are being deprived of food and water and are dying of hunger in front of the eyes of the world—a world that claims to champion humanity and human rights, but reality reveals the falsity of these claims."
