Muslims around the world have been urged to pray at home during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Saudi Arabia’s top Islamic authority in its recommendations encouraged Muslims to perform prayers at home, the Saudi News Agency reported on Sunday.
Ramadan is set to begin on April 23, but most Muslim countries have shut down mosques in an effort to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
A feature of the fasting month is a special nightly prayer called “taraweeh,” usually performed in packed mosques.
The Saudi Senior Scholars’ Council said on Sunday that Muslims should perform communal prayers including the taraweeh at home if authorities in their respective countries recommend it.
“The Muslim should avoid gatherings because they are considered the main reason for spreading infection, according to related medical reports,” the council said, according to the state Saudi news agency SPA.
The council advised against group meals during Ramadan and underlined the importance of preserving life in Islam.
Observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk during the lunar month of Ramadam.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has suspended congregational prayers in mosques and halted religious journeys to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina as part of strict measures to control the outbreak.
Saudi authorities have installed thermal cameras at the entrances of the Holy Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet Mohammed Mosque in Medina to check the body temperatures of visitors, Saudi-owned television Al Arabiya reported.
“Activating these cameras in the two holy mosques represents a quality step in the level of precautionary measures,” Abdel-Rahman al-Sudeis, the head of a state agency in charge of the two sites, said, according to Al Arabiya.
This kind of cameras has a feature of storing the recorded temperatures of people and their image for one month for retrieval when needed, the broadcaster said.
