In this holy month of meditation, worship and invocation, the Hassan II Mosque in Libreville is both a place of worship and reunion for members of the Moroccan community in Gabon, in the absence of any other meeting space.
During the night, an unusual atmosphere takes over as men, women and children converge from all sides, dressed in their best traditional clothes to perform the Isha and Tarawih prayers alongside Muslim brothers and friends of other communities.
In addition to its spiritual role, the mosque also serves as a nostalgic visit for members of the Moroccan community, after a day of abstinence and renunciation as they gather together and get to recreate a little of the atmosphere of their home country which they long for especially in a country where Muslims account for just 2 per cent of the population.
In order to quench the thirst of the faithful in recitation and chanting of the Holy Quran in Ramadan evenings, Imams and Preachers were brought especially from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to this effect.
After over an hour of prayer, it’s time for discussions inside the mosque, on the plaza or in the parking lot: the latest news, the atmosphere of Ramadan in the host countries and summer vacation dominate are the main topics.
Also recurrent in the conversations the urgent need for a meeting place for members of the Moroccan community in the Gabonese capital, a cultural center or a Morocco’s House, essentially a unifying framework or unifying space to keep ties with the mother country.
At this stage, the associative fabric is missing and it is not, however, lacking the means nor goodwill, but previous initiatives and experiences were unfortunately doomed to fail.
Furthermore, Libreville Hassan II mosque, testimony of centuries-old ties of friendship and brotherhood that unite Morocco and Gabon, conveys messages of love, virtue and humanism advocated by Islam and contributes to the radiation of the religion.
True to its mission, a historical and spiritual monument, the largest mosque of Gabon, always attracts large crowds of the faithful who converge there to answer the call of Allah for the five prayers of the day, but also for the Friday prayer.
It brings together the country’s Muslims, adults and children, men and women, with a mission to introduce them to the precepts of Islam.
Built in front of the presidential palace in the heart of the capital, the mosque, inaugurated in 1983, is built on a total area of 1.5 hectares and has a large prayer hall of 3,500 m2, with a hosting capacity of up to five thousand faithful, another room for women and a bathroom for ablutions, among others. It has a high minaret of over 40 meters.
The interior is made of zellij beldi, plaster and wood, with traditional colorful mosaics that adorn the walls, carved in pure splendid Arab-Muslim style by skilled Moroccan craftsmen (maalems).
Noteworthy: Islam is the second monotheistic religion practiced in Gabon after Christianity. Muslims make up less than 2 per cent of the local population estimated at 1.8 million inhabitants.
