Salafists Disrupt Friday Prayers in Tunisia

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) They prevented worshippers from holding Friday prayers in reaction to the Religious Affairs Ministry’s decision to replace the Salafist prayers leader of the mosque, Al-Alam news network reported.The Salafists engaged in clashes with worshipers who had welcomed the replacement of the prayers leader, a security official said.He added that after the clashes and the disruption of Friday prayers, the Al-Fath Mosque was closed to worshippers.Since the ouster of former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, it is the first time when there is disruption in holding Friday prayers in one of the country’s mosques.Tunisia’s media and religious scholars say that extremist Salafists in mosques try to spread their radical Wahabi views and recruit the youth for going to Syria and fighting against the Syrian government./149