The fasting month of Ramzan

The fasting month of Ramzan is all set to start on a quiet note on Saturday as people offered ‘tarawih’ prayers at homes today.

With no festivities and restrictions on congregations in mosques due to the Covid lockdown, residents say they will pray that the pandemic ends during the holy month.

“Ramzan is the holiest month of the Muslim calendar and this for the first time that people offered ‘tarawih’ (special prayers that start from Ramzan eve) at home. In most of the mosques, ‘azaan’ (call to prayer) will be said and ‘iftaar’ announcements will be made but people have been told to pray at home. We will pray with a hope that this pandemic ends soon,” said Maulvi Iftikhar, a local ‘imam’.

Several top clerics, including Shaykhul Hadith Mufti Nazir Ahmad Qasmi and Grand Mufti Nasir ul Islam have asked the local mosque committees to ensure adherence to the guidelines so that congregational prayers are not held.

“People should not try to come to mosques as it will be against all those precautionary measures prescribed for the prevention of the virus,” stated an advisory issued by Qasmi.

However, he said two or three persons like the caretakers and ‘muezzin’ should join the ‘imam’, who mostly live on the mosque premises, for prayers and make announcements for ‘iftar’.

The grand mufti hoped that the fasting month would bring a “dawn of peace that will take away all worries.”

Meanwhile, no Friday congregations were held for the fifth straight week and the authorities too had urged the people to pray at their respective homes during the fasting month.

Several political parties and other organisations issued statements wishing people on the beginning of the fasting month.