The Mosques advocate the goals of the Arab Campaign for Education for All in Palestine, Sudan and Yemen

Mosques in the Arab and Islamic world have a major spiritual role and influential impact more than any other educational institution due to their religious status and their importance in developing the individual and society. The role of mosques in Islam goes beyond being only a place of spiritual worship to being a platform for guidance, counseling, education and preaches through the five daily prayers and the Friday sermons that create an opportunity to send a message on a particular issue on a weekly basis. The importance and effectiveness of mosques in the lives of the Arabs and Muslims is reflected through the wide spread of mosques in all cities of the Arab countries, where each small geographical area has at least one mosque. In spite of lack of accurate statistics about the number of mosques in the Arab countries, it is estimated that the number of mosques reached to 2228 mosques in Palestine in 2006, the number of mosques in Yemen nearly 75,000 mosques distributed throughout Yemen, and in Sudan 400 mosques in Khartoum state alone.

Since the mosque in the pure Islamic concept, is a place of declaration of exclusive slavery to God, and that education in Islam is a major condition of true worship, mosques must have an active role in knowledge dissemination and awareness rising on the importance of education and the development of the educational process. The Arab campaign for Education for All-ACEA, represented by its coalitions in Palestine, Yemen and Sudan, decided to take advantage of the vital role of the mosques in the life of the Arabs and Muslims to advocate for EFA goals. ACEA particularly decided to take the advantage of Friday prayer, which is a weekly event where all community members gathered in one place including men, women and even children to receive a weekly lesson on religious or social issue.

The story began from Yemen where Yemeni coalition succeeded in investing in the social and cultural heritage to mobilize the community and to ensure social acceptance. This was achieved through the employment of mosques and persuading imams tribal and army leaders to support and advocate ACEA goals under the slogan (Every child needs a teacher). Focusing on gaining the support of tribal leaders, imams of mosques and the army contributed significantly to gain the support of the Yemeni community in general. Moreover the success of this campaign has increased the ambition of the Yemeni Coalition to target more complex issues such as girls' education.

The idea to take advantage of the social and cultural heritage met with great success in Yemen to reach the largest possible number of segments of society. This encouraged other coalitions to benefit from this experience in their countries.

The Yemeni coalition program for GAW 2013 that was launched on April 19, 2013 included Friday prayers and sermons about the importance of education on April 19, 2013. Mosques' preachers and counselors talked about the importance of education. Emphasis was placed on the role of the teacher and highlighting the slogan " teachers are the messenger of god." This activity had very influential impact as the importance of education was emphasized by mosques' preachers who are considered reliable actors in the Yemeni society. In addition the Yemeni people trust that sermons provided by the imams of mosques serve God’s commands and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

In Palestine, the Palestinian coalition contacted the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with it. Through this agreement the ministry circulated to all imams amemo to devote the Friday sermon to talk about the importance of education. As a result of the Palestinian coalition efforts, it was approved to make the issue of education and the importance of teacher role the title of Friday sermon on April 26, 2013 in all the mosques of Palestine, the sermon devoted to talk about education and the importance of teachers.

This step result in wider community participation and eligibility for the global campaign because it has contributed in making every house in Palestine participated in the campaign through attending the Friday prayer. In addition, the sermons were broadcasted in the media including radio and TV, So the campaign's message reached to every person that was listening or watching the sermons in the media.

In Sudan, the idea to benefit from the role of the mosques has attracted the Sudanese coalition due to the fact that the Sudanese context is largely similar with Yemen, where the mosque is the only forum that brings together people of all segments and affiliations. The Sudanese coalition has worked on two sides; on the one hand, alliances have been built with tribal and religious leaders, through which the coalition will be accessible to the largest number of people as well as it will guarantee social acceptance of the campaign because they essentially have the trust of religious and tribal leaders, which is the key to reach people. On the other hand, the coalition has been coordinating with the Religious Affairs department at the Ministry of Awqaf to communicate formally with the imams to determine the Friday sermons to talk about the importance of education. The preachers devoted Friday May 9, 2014 to talk about education and the importance of knowledge, emphasizing on seeking for knowledge is proven in the verses of the holy Koran and the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad.The Sudanese coalition started with ten mosques in Sudan that are the Martyr Mosque, the armed forces Mosque, the University of Khartoum Mosque, Bahri Al-Kabeer Mosque,  Wed Al-Aser Haj Yousef Mosque, Furqan Mosque, Sayyed Sanhoori Mosque, Khartoum Al-Kabeer Mosque, Nile Mosque, and Street Balamarat 15 Mosque.These mosques were selected because they are the preferred for the leaders, politicians and local community leaders. Based on the success that has been achieved, it is expected to replicate the idea gradually in the largest possible number of mosques in Sudan.

Friday sermon has very essential role to emphasize the importance of education and the role of the teacher because it contributes to reach the largest possible number of segments of society on the one hand. On the other hand deliver the message by a source that is considered the most credible for people