Saving mosques for future in these times of Corona Virus
JK News Today
The holy month of Ramzan of fasting and prayers will begin next week in these times of extreme situation where the pandemic caused by Coronavirus has hit the world, and the mosques have been closed to ensure social distancing and encourage prayers from home .
Muslims are realistic people . The main mosques in Saudi Arabia and many Islamic countries across the world have been closed to save lives from the ever-spreading deadly disease that has claimed more than 150,000 lives worldwide. These include many from the Islamic countries as well. The pandemic doesn’t respect boundaries nor distinguishes between faiths.
As these are testing times, the Muslims in the world have accepted new norms of prayers at home. The prayers have the same strength whether those are offered in places of worship or at home. Silent prayers are the most powerful ones.
Muslims are practical people . They know best what they have to do in these extraordinary times , and it is clear to them that praying at home, instead of mosques is safe for their community and places of worship, too.
Their safety, they know, will come from by offering prayers at home. It is their safety valve against the pandemic. They also know that if they are able to keep themselves safe, their mosques too would be safe, and they would be return to mosques once the pandemic is over.
Social distancing is not something new . This practice has been used earlier too in such situations in the past , especially during early 1990s when Spanish flu took its toll on the lives of the people and economy of the nations.
Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al Al-Sheikh , as quoted in Arab news, said on Friday, asked the Muslims to to perform prayers at their homes. He even suggested that even Eid Prayers should be held at home to prevent spreading coronavirus.
He said , “ “As it will not be possible to hold Taraweeh prayers at mosques this year due to the preventive measures taken by authorities to fight the novel coronavirus, people will have to perform them at home to obtain the virtue of praying during the blessed nights of Ramadan.
Al Al-Sheikh said , “It has been established that Prophet Mohammed performed these prayers at home, and it is known that Taraweeh is Sunnah and not obligatory. If the status quo persists, making it impossible to hold Eid prayer at mosques, people will have to pray at home and no sermon will follow the Eid prayer.”
This is how the Islamic world has understood that how the fight against the pandemic is to be carried out.
