MUMBAI: Alarmed by the number of Sunni Muslims coming out of their homes for Friday and congregational prayers five times a day, a section of community leaders and commentators have demanded immediate suspension of all congregational prayers at mosques till
Covid-19
dies down.
Coronavirus in India live updatesWhile Haji Ali and Mahim Dargah are closed and Shia mosques have suspended congregational prayers in compliance with WHO guidelines in the fight against the virus, Sunnis continue to hold prayers in their mosques, though the duration has been curtailed.
“Daily congregational prayers at holy mosques in Mecca and Medina have been stopped. Mosques in Kuwait are telling worshippers not to visit mosques but pray at home. But here, in India, some Sunni mosques continue to hold congregational prayers,” said senior Urdu columnist Hasan Kamal.
Several Sunni clerics have asked people to visit mosques only for the mandatory prayers. “When health guidelines say that we must maintain a distance of at least one metre to avoid contracting this contagious disease, there are chances that an infected person at congregational prayers may transmit the virus to the non-infected,” said M A Khalid of All India Milli Council.
Islamic scholar Zeenat Shaukat Ali referred to a saying of the Prophet. He said if there is a plague, no one from the plague-affected area should go out and no person from a non-affected area should visit.
UK-based, Indian-origin pediatrician Dr Nadeem Jilani said on Facebook he offered prayers at home this past Friday. Senior cleric Maulana Mahmood Daryabadi said the lockdown has reduced worshippers at daily prayers at mosques.