The short answer
Quietly and with patience. Friday is the day of the main weekly prayer, and many souk shops open late or close for a few hours around midday, then reopen in the afternoon. Monuments keep their hours. Plan sights for Friday morning and shopping for the afternoon, keep your distance from mosque entrances, and do not photograph people praying.
In more detail
Around the midday prayer, the lanes near mosques fill with men arriving and leaving. Step aside, let them pass, and avoid blocking doorways. There is nothing you need to do beyond being considerate; nobody expects visitors to stop what they are doing.
Friday lunch after the midday prayer is traditionally couscous in Moroccan homes, and many Mechoui Alley stalls rest on Fridays. The Agdal Gardens, by contrast, usually open on Fridays and Sundays.
Dress with a little extra care if you will be near a mosque at prayer time: shoulders and knees covered. Wide shots of a busy street are fine; close photographs of worshippers are not.
A good Friday plan in Marrakech is simple: palaces, gardens and museums in the morning, a long lunch, and the souks once the shutters go back up in the afternoon. Monuments keep their normal hours, so a Friday is not a lost day.
Good to know
- Shop on Friday afternoon rather than at midday.
- Step aside near mosque doors at prayer time.
- Keep the camera down near worshippers.