Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.  Suggested reading: Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran

Source: Arab News

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been forced to take strict precautionary measures to rein in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak during Ramadan.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti, said people would have to perform Taraweeh and Eid prayers at home to prevent spreading the virus.

Oman’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs issued a statement prohibiting Taraweeh prayer in mosques with an exception for calls for prayer.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs shared a video showing Sheikh Raed Al-Hazimi, the imam and khatib, explaining the importance of abiding by the measures.

“Allah Almighty wanted, through Islamic law, to preserve the five necessities in Islam: Religion, mind, property, honor and the self.

“If one of these necessities are threatened, exceptions will be made. The spread of this pandemic threatens the self, therefore, the fatwa from the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs came to close mosques,” he said.

Egypt – Ramadan without Taraweeh

Laila Mohamed in Cairo: The COVID-19 precautionary health measures, which include the suspension of Friday prayers in mosques, have made for a somber Ramadan across Egypt.

“The decisions with regard to group prayers, including Taraweeh, were taken on the basis of scientific opinion of specialists from various medical institutions, on top of which are the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization,” Mohamed Gomaa, the Egyptian minister of endowments, said on Wednesday. “Both confirmed the dangers of praying in groups in transmitting COVID-19.”

Pointing out the legal basis on which the decision was made, he said: “Our noble religion taught us that the life of someone praying is more important than praying in a mosque, and that saving lives against all hazards is one of the essential aims of our noble religion.”

Abdel-Meguid Abdel-Aziz, a history researcher, said multiple accounts suggested that during the reign of Caliph Al-Aziz Bellah, the Fatimids canceled Taraweeh prayers in Egypt’s mosques for 10 years.

The Ministry of Endowments introduced a number of measures on Wednesday, one of them being that calls to prayer would be announced only in mosques and not in smaller congregational prayers.

Anyone caught violating the ministry’s instructions would be relieved from working in mosques, with no exception granted to even imams and staff.

Ahmed Shaker, 65, a former government employee, said that he was accustomed to offering Taraweeh prayers in mosques during Ramadan and retreating inside them during the last 10 days of the holy month for spiritual renewal, but this year he would pray for the pandemic to end.

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