In a first no eid namaz at mosques
In a first no eid namaz at mosques
This year (2020) Eid in India was celebrated on May 25, amid lockdown. The festival of Eid, this year, was quite different as Muslims had to offer their Eid namaz from their homes and not at mosques.
Covid-19 virus was rapidly spreading in India. To counter the virus, the government of India imposed complete lockdown throughout India. Not only the places of work, but also the religious centres were under the purview of a complete lockdown. During the lockdown people were ordered to remain indoors, maintain social distance and prohibited from gathering in large numbers at any place, including the places of worship.
The corona virus had struck everyone equally; it did not see any caste, creed, religion, sex or even age. This is why the governments across the globe, including India, did not have much of a choice but to issue a decree against the performance of namaz in mosques on the holy occasion of Eid.
There was a lot of displeasure and resentment on the announcement of this from some community members. However, I think this was a right decision taken by the governments as it helped in preventing the spread of Covid-19 virus among the people. Covid-19 is a highly contagious virus. It was taking a lot of time to find out the symptoms among the infected individuals. The lack of medication that could eradicate the virus worsened the situation further. Therefore, the only logical thing to do was to maintain social distance among individuals at any cost. If the authorities would not have restricted the movement of the masses, then the contamination rates would have been out of control.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, the leaders of the Muslim community compromised with their age-old tradition and co-operated with the local governments to ensure the safety of one and all. It was a pleasant sight to see the level of understanding of the importance of life over blind faith. Some individuals showed a remarkable sense of responsibility. He created awareness on social media two weeks into the Ramadan, explaining the need to maintain social distancing.
Another incident was reported wherein the Jamia Nizamia, one of the oldest seminaries of the Muslims, issued a fatwa or an order, by virtue of which there would be no traditional congregational prayer in a mosque. On the contrary, it was decreed that only one person of a locality could recite the namaz as a representative of the locality, at the mosque. He suggested that only one person could say the prayer on behalf of the entire people of the locality.
In another such incident, the mufti of the Jama Masjid in Ghaziabad dedicated his entire evening sermon of 'khatam shareef' (the night when the Quran recitation is completed) in explaining the Muslims the ways in which they can offer the Eid namaz at home.
Usually during the Eid festival, the menfolk would go to Eidgah to offer namaz. The females would stay at home and would give the namaz a miss. However, this year, as the people were instructed to offer Eid namaz at home, the females were also able to offer namaz with the menfolk in their homes.
These are some examples of generous gesture of the Muslim leaders and people at large to participate with governments in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision to offer Eid prayers at home, instead of congregating at mosques was a sensible one.
© Arked
This year (2020) Eid in India was celebrated on May 25, amid lockdown. The festival of Eid, this year, was quite different as Muslims had to offer their Eid namaz from their homes and not at mosques.
Covid-19 virus was rapidly spreading in India. To counter the virus, the government of India imposed complete lockdown throughout India. Not only the places of work, but also the religious centres were under the purview of a complete lockdown. During the lockdown people were ordered to remain indoors, maintain social distance and prohibited from gathering in large numbers at any place, including the places of worship.
The corona virus had struck everyone equally; it did not see any caste, creed, religion, sex or even age. This is why the governments across the globe, including India, did not have much of a choice but to issue a decree against the performance of namaz in mosques on the holy occasion of Eid.
There was a lot of displeasure and resentment on the announcement of this from some community members. However, I think this was a right decision taken by the governments as it helped in preventing the spread of Covid-19 virus among the people. Covid-19 is a highly contagious virus. It was taking a lot of time to find out the symptoms among the infected individuals. The lack of medication that could eradicate the virus worsened the situation further. Therefore, the only logical thing to do was to maintain social distance among individuals at any cost. If the authorities would not have restricted the movement of the masses, then the contamination rates would have been out of control.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, the leaders of the Muslim community compromised with their age-old tradition and co-operated with the local governments to ensure the safety of one and all. It was a pleasant sight to see the level of understanding of the importance of life over blind faith. Some individuals showed a remarkable sense of responsibility. He created awareness on social media two weeks into the Ramadan, explaining the need to maintain social distancing.
Another incident was reported wherein the Jamia Nizamia, one of the oldest seminaries of the Muslims, issued a fatwa or an order, by virtue of which there would be no traditional congregational prayer in a mosque. On the contrary, it was decreed that only one person of a locality could recite the namaz as a representative of the locality, at the mosque. He suggested that only one person could say the prayer on behalf of the entire people of the locality.
In another such incident, the mufti of the Jama Masjid in Ghaziabad dedicated his entire evening sermon of 'khatam shareef' (the night when the Quran recitation is completed) in explaining the Muslims the ways in which they can offer the Eid namaz at home.
Usually during the Eid festival, the menfolk would go to Eidgah to offer namaz. The females would stay at home and would give the namaz a miss. However, this year, as the people were instructed to offer Eid namaz at home, the females were also able to offer namaz with the menfolk in their homes.
These are some examples of generous gesture of the Muslim leaders and people at large to participate with governments in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision to offer Eid prayers at home, instead of congregating at mosques was a sensible one.
© Arked