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Ghaziabad:Religious leaders persuade people to offer Friday prayers at home to prevent large gatherings at mosques amid lockdown
To prevent people from offering namaz at mosques in the city on Friday, in order to ensure no large gathering takes place amid the national lockdown in the wake
To prevent people from offering namaz at mosques in the city on Friday, in order to ensure no large gathering takes place amid the national lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Ghaziabad police and district administration roped in religious leaders from the Mulsim community and some minority organizations. Their efforts paid off when most people stayed home to offer Friday prayers.
Mufti Mehtab Alam Qasmi, imam, Jama Masjid, Sanjay Nagar said last Friday people had been told at the mosque to stay home and offer prayers. Signboards had also been put outside the mosque urging people to stay home.
“The Sanjay Nagar Jama Masjid is one of the biggest mosques in Ghaziabad and around 4,000-5,000 coffer prayers here on Fridays. During the prayers last Friday, we had told the people about detrimental effects large gatherings could have on people amid the Covid-19 outbreak after the district administration and police officers apprised us about the need to contain the disease from spreading,” he said.
“Following our requests, nobody came to the mosque and a few people that work for the mosque offered prayers inside it. We also made announcements on loudspeakers about the benefits of washing hands, using hand sanitisers and maintaining cleanliness. We have asked people to offer prayers at home till the lockdown is in place. It is probably for the first time that people have been asked not to come to the mosque,” he added.
The police and administration officials were on toes expecting many to gather at city mosques on Friday. Police personnel were deployed to ensure that no gathering takes place and social distancing is maintained.
Some of the city mosques such as the one at Arthala had also locked its gates on Friday.
“We have several WhatsApp groups and every group has people from 12 or 13 localities. We sent messages on these groups and requested people not to go to the mosques and offer prayers at home. It seemed unusual for people to stay away from mosques and many called us as well. We told them about the threat Covid-19 presents to all of us and also briefed them on how to maintain social distance and avoid all kinds of gatherings,” said Maulana Mohammad Arshad of Mehboobi Masjid in Masuri.
In areas like Loni, the police had sought the help of minority organisations such as Jamiat Ulema-i Hind.
“Our efforts paid off as our volunteers had been making announcements in different areas of Loni for the past several days. People offered prayers at their homes and there were no gatherings at nay mosques in Loni,” said Faizuddin Aarif, general secretary, Loni chapter, Jamiat Ulema-i Hind.
The police said prayers were offered peacefully in Loni, Muradnagar, Dasna, Masuri among other areas and no untoward incident was reported.
“There were a lot of efforts which went in to persuade people to offer prayers at home. The members of Muslim community and their religious leaders made our appeal successful. They cooperated fully was to prevent any large gathering. On our part, we had deployed about seven vehicles especially for making public announcements on maintaining social distancing,” Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, superintendent of police (rural), said.
