Outsiders barred from mosques to prevent spread of COVID-19

To prevent further spread of the coronavirus, the government has instructed people to offer their daily prayers at home rather than go to mosques. As per the new directive, only five people, including the imam, may pray at the mosques each day and only up to 10 may offer their Friday Juma prayers there.  The restrictions were announced via an urgent notice issued yesterday by Shakhawat Hossen, deputy secretary of the religious affairs ministry.

 “Only five people—including the imam, muazzin, khatib, and khadim—will be allowed to offer their daily prayers at mosques to maintain jamaat. Also, only 10 people, including the previously mentioned ones, will be allowed at each mosque during the Friday Juma prayer,” the notice of the religious affairs ministry said.  The notice directed citizens to offer Zohr prayers at home on Friday instead of Juma. Religious gatherings like waj mahfil, milad, tafsir mahfil, and tableeg will not be permitted either.

Similar directions apply to people of other religions. They have been asked not to visit temples, pagodas, and other places of worship.

“Legal action will be taken against those who defy this directive,” the notice warned. With three more deaths being confirmed yesterday, the national death toll from the coronavirus rose to 12. So far, 123 people have been infected in Bangladesh, with 35 cases emerging in the last 24 hours alone.

Earlier, on March 17, the Saudi Arabia government suspended daily prayers and the weekly Friday prayers inside and outside the walls of the two mosques in Mecca and Medina to limit the spread of the coronavirus. It also suspended congregational prayers at other mosques within the country, except at Masjid al-Haram and Masjid an-Nabawi in Mecca and Medina, respectively.

The coronavirus has brought communal Muslim prayers to a halt globally for the first time, leaving mosques empty in many countries of the Middle East, as well as in other countries like Indonesia, Turkey, and Kenya, among others.