What's the deal with being told the souk or sight is 'closed today'?

This is the cousin of the 'this way is closed' redirect, aimed at your destination rather than your route, and it's worth knowing as its own thing. You're walking toward a famous madrasa, a museum, the tanneries, or just the main souk, and a stranger informs you it's 'closed today' — for a religious holiday, for prayers, for renovation, or my favourite, because 'today is the special Berber market, only happens once a week, I take you'. The urgency and exclusivity are the hook. The destination is usually open and ordinary.

The goal is almost always to redirect your money. 'Closed' becomes the reason you should instead visit the 'special market', the 'artisan cooperative', the 'last day of the leather sale' — venues that pay the person a commission, often with marked-up prices to cover it. Sometimes it's the opener for a faux guide to attach themselves; sometimes it's just to spin you toward one specific shop. It's a soft, smiling manipulation rather than anything aggressive, but it can waste an afternoon and lighten your wallet if you bite.

Now, in fairness, things genuinely do close, and you shouldn't be so cynical you miss real information. Many sights shut or shorten hours on Fridays (the main prayer day), during Ramadan, and on national and religious holidays; some museums close one weekday; and the great mosques are closed to non-Muslims entirely (Hassan II in Casablanca is the famous exception, by guided tour). The difference is the source: a posted sign, your guidebook, the official website, or staff at the actual door is real; a passing stranger who immediately has an alternative for you to spend money on is not.

So verify before you believe. If someone tells you your destination's closed, smile, say thanks, and walk to the entrance yourself to see — it's usually right there and usually open. Check opening hours on your phone or with your riad before you set out, especially around Fridays and holidays, so you already know and can't be bluffed. And never let 'it's closed, but I know somewhere better' reroute you on the spot; if it really is shut, you can decide your own plan B over a coffee, not at the urging of a stranger who profits from where you go next.