RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's highest religious body — the Council of Senior Scholars — Sunday urged the Muslims worldwide to pray at home during Ramazan if their countries required social distancing to combat coronavirus, state news agency SPA reported.
"Muslims shall avoid gatherings, because they are the main cause of the spread of infection...and shall remember that preserving the lives of people is a great act that brings them closer to Allah," it said in a statement.
Earlier, the Saudi Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al El-Sheikh had said Muslims will offer Taraveeh and Eid prayers at home if the coronavirus situation continued. “Ramazan’s Taraveeh (evening) prayers can be performed at home if not at the mosques due to the preventive measures taken to fight the spread of coronavirus,” he said. On Saturday, Pakistan announced that mosques across the country would remain open for Taraveeh during the month of Ramazan.
Chairing a meeting with Ulema in Islamabad, President Arif Alvi had urged citizens and religious leaders alike to exercise discipline and take precautions against the coronavirus pandemic when coming to mosques.
“As per the foundations of Islamic society, we as a nation should exhibit discipline, coherence and national uniformity as we continue our battle against the coronavirus,” the president said, adding, “we can curb the spread of the virus in the holy month of Ramazan by staying away from crowds and unnecessary gatherings.”
A 20-point agreement had been announced after the meeting. "For the Taraveeh prayers, people should avoid congregating outside mosques or on footpaths along the road. People should avoid gathering in large numbers outside mosques after prayers," he said.
President Alvi had also asked religious leaders across the country to ensure that there was a space between people when they congregated inside mosques for prayers.
"The floors of mosques across the country will be cleaned with chlorine to disinfect them. Markers will also be made on the ground for the people to stand on when they pray," he said. "Prospering nations do not follow rules and regulations forcefully but with free will; therefore, the administration can help us in enforcing the decided SOPs but it is the job of citizens to ensure that all precautionary measures are fully implemented," he affirmed.
Meanwhile, more than 260 million Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter on Sunday, with church leaders urging worshippers to stay at home to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.
While many watched services online or on television, some sidestepped virus fears to attend churches on the most important date in the Orthodox calendar.
In Georgia, several hundred took part in a midnight mass at Tbilisi's Holy Trinity Cathedral after the government allowed public attendance despite a nightly curfew aimed at curbing the virus.
“I could have stayed at home and watched the service on television but only here in this holy church can I find true comfort,” one worshipper, 58-year-old Lamara Zhvania said. Orthodox Christians, the world's third largest group of Christian believers, celebrate Easter a week after Catholics and Protestants because they follow a different calendar.
Last week's Easter celebrations took place in empty churches while Pope Francis live streamed his traditional message from the Vatican as the pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 made mass worship too risky.
Russian Patriarch Kirill, who leads 150 million believers, held a service in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Church with no worshippers attending.
In a televised address, the Patriarch focused on “the terrible illness that has touched our people” saying the church was empty but “we are together — one big family of Orthodox believers”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not go to a service as usual but visited a chapel at his residence outside Moscow.
“This year the festival is taking place with restrictions forced on us. They are necessary to fight the spread of the illness,” he said in a video address sitting by a table laid with traditional kulich Easter cakes.
In Moscow and the surrounding region, where most Russian Covi-19 cases are concentrated, churches held services behind closed doors with broadcasts online or on television. Some parishioners held candles and watched from outside church fences as priests led traditional processions around churchyards.
Services remained open in many other parts of Russia, which has reported around 36,800 cases of coronavirus and more than 300 deaths. In much of the wider Orthodox region, churches were not open to the public.
The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople ordered services to be closed to the public and broadcast online. The same decision was taken in Cyprus, Greece, Serbia and North Macedonia as well as in Egypt, where Orthodox Coptic Christians comprise 10 to 15 per cent of the population.
Jerusalem's Old City is normally packed for Orthodox Easter but was almost deserted at the weekend under Israel's strict lockdown measures. The annual Holy Fire ceremony took place behind closed doors in the city's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The flame was then taken to Orthodox countries worldwide.
According to tradition, the Holy Sepulchre stands on the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. In Romania, while churches closed their doors, volunteers and priests went to people's homes handing out loaves of consecrated bread and sharing the holy flame.