September 5, 2025 | 03:38 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Thousands of Palestinians gathered on Thursday, September 4, 2025, to commemorate the Prophet Muhammad's birthday at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, West Bank. The celebration took place amid tight security imposed by Israel.
During the event, which was organized by the Palestinian Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs, recitations of blessings in honor of the Prophet Muhammad echoed from the mosque's minarets. Muslims worldwide commemorate the Prophet's birthday every year on the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar.
The mosque's director, Mutaz Abu Sneineh, told Anadolu that the Ibrahimi Mosque "was fully opened to worshippers celebrating the Prophet’s birthday."
However, he noted that Israeli authorities had intensified security around the mosque and refused to hand over full control to Palestinian authorities the previous night, a practice that is customary on this occasion.
"This mosque is an exclusive Islamic endowment, and we will never abandon our presence here," he said.
A Site of Religious and Political Conflict
The Ibrahimi Mosque is located in the old city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, an area under Israeli control. Approximately 400 illegal settlers reside there, protected by about 1,500 Israeli soldiers.
Respected by both Muslims and Jews, the mosque complex is believed to be the burial place of the Prophets Ibrahim, Ishak, and Yakub.
After a 1994 massacre in which a Jewish extremist settler, Baruch Goldstein, killed 29 Palestinian worshipers inside the mosque, Israeli authorities divided the complex between Muslim and Jewish worshipers.
In 2017, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO declared the Ibrahimi Mosque a Palestinian World Heritage Site.
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