Conflict Incident Report

An inter-Muslim conflict was averted in Tripoli over the weekend following rumors that a mosque in the northern city had been attacked during prayer time, residents said Sunday. News spread of an attack on the Al-Rahman Mosque, with residents saying the mosque’s exterior sound and light cables for worshipers in the adjacent square were severed. The external speakers and lights were set up to help accommodate the crowds of worshippers who flock to the mosque to perform the isha [evening] prayers, and to listen to Sheikh Mohammad Hablos’ religious supplications.

The alleged attack went viral on social media platforms, with calls made for citizens to rally in and outside the mosque to condemn the incident. A large crowd of people gathered in streets, public squares and roundabouts, in a show of solidarity with the mosque.

However, it came to light after investigations were conducted by security agencies that far from a deliberate attack on the mosque, the issue with the power supply Friday night was the result of an electrical wiring fault.

The incident caused flared nerves, but tensions calmed after reports of an attack against the mosque turned out to be baseless. However, lingering questions remained.

“What is the goal behind spreading this rumor?” one of the customers at a nearby cafe asked. “Are the [angry] reactions, published on social media against the so-called attack on the mosque, aimed at reducing touristic activity in that area, which was bustling with life, even during the rounds of fighting in Tripoli?” the man, who requested not to be named, asked The Daily Star.

Tripoli was shaken by sectarian clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which ravaged the city’s two rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen for years before the Lebanese Army deployed in the area and restored calm in 2014.

Located in an area famous for its sidewalk cafes and restaurants, the Al-Rahman Mosque is considered one of the most important mosques in the city and is supervised by a committee that oversees the provision of services to men and women who come to pray at the mosque.

A dispute had recently arisen between the mosque and its neighbors, who complained about the noise during prayer times. This complaint prompted the committee to act quickly to placate the owners of nearby cafes by taking measures to confine the sound from speakers to the mosque’s interior. The mosque then only made loud, public calls to announce the five daily prayers, in addition to special Ramadan prayers.

Despite the measures taken to reduce the sound of prayers and sermons coming from the mosque, comments made on social media almost led to conflict within the Sunni Muslim community, residents said. According to local sources, certain extremist elements in the neighborhood were prepared to act decisively to deter anything that they considered to cause harm to the mosque.

But mosque’s committee, headed by Sheikh Nassim Danawi, said it did not accuse anyone, any group or institution of this “subversive act.”

The committee said that showing respect for the mosque’s neighbors, some of whom are Christian cafe owners in the area, was a “religious duty” that the committee fulfilled without any other incentive.

But in a statement, the committee stressed its opposition to any action or reaction that does not conform to God’s Shariah [law] and the ethics of Islam.

Tensions often flare during the holy month between those strictly following Ramadan and secular or other non-Islamic religious groups in the city. So far, no major incidents have been reported in Tripoli since Ramadan started on May 27.