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Gaza's religious ministry launches Khotaba, the Yelp for Islamic preachers

A new website allows Muslim worshippers to assess and rate preachers and find out where they will be delivering Friday sermons in the Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian boy reads the Koran at a mosque in the second Friday of Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Gaza city, June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem - S1AETKLEYYAA
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — As of this year, Gazans have been able to go online before heading to the mosque and find out where their favorite Islamic preacher will be leading Friday prayers. The Ministry of Religious Affairs enabled them to do so when it launched the platform Khotaba, which in Arabic means “preachers,”  on Jan. 2. The website also allows users to assess the performance of every preacher in the Gaza Strip and post feedback on his sermons. Preachers are evaluated using a system of one to five stars: unacceptable (one star), acceptable (two stars), good (three stars), very good (four stars) and excellent (five stars). 

Yousef Farhat, general director of the Department for Preaching and Guidance at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Al-Monitor, “Previously the ministry’s Friday sermon schedule was distributed as hard copies specifying the name of the preacher, the exact date and the mosque where the Friday sermon is to be delivered. At the end of 2017, the ministry decided to shift to a 'soft copy.' The website informs the preacher at which mosque across the Gaza Strip governorates he will be preaching and allows him to see his assessment. … The website helps worshippers track their preferred preachers and locate the mosque in which they are delivering their Friday sermon. It includes a biography of each preacher indicating his certificates of Islamic studies.”

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