E-Paper
Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti asks for holding Ramazan prayers at home due to coronavirus
Muslims in large numbers visit mosques for their daily and Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramazan.
Saudi Arabia’s topmost religious authority, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, has asked Muslims to perform Ramazan and the Eid prayers at home if the coronavirus outbreak doesn’t subside. The Grand Mufti’s statement was reported by the kingdom’s Okaz newspaper.
“Ramadan’s Taraweeh prayer can be performed at home if it cannot be performed at mosques due to the preventive measures taken to fight the spread of coronavirus,” the Mufti is reported to have said.
He added that the same will need to be followed for the Eid prayers if the virus doesn’t relent by then, necessitating continuance of social distancing measures.
The month of Ramazan, which is slated to begin on the evening of April 23 this year and end with Eid celebrations, likely on May 24, is considered to be Muslims’ holy month, marked by day-long fasts and prayers to the almighty.
Saudi Arabia had issued instructions last month to stop people from offering five daily prayers along with the Friday prayers inside mosques to aid in coronavirus containment efforts in the country.
The kingdom on Sunday indefinitely extended the curfew to 24 hours a day to fight new infections that have grown rapidly recently.
On Thursday, the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Medina said that serving of evening meals in the mosque during Ramazan to poor people in need won’t be allowed as part of the breaking of the daily fast.
Saudi Arabia currently has over 8,000 cases of coronavirus as per Worldometer, the website that tabulates and analyses all Covid-19 cases across the world, including over 90 deaths.
India’s minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, too, had made a similar appeal to the Muslim clerics and other community leaders in India, asking them to encourage Ramzan prayers inside homes instead at public places such as mosques.
