Mufti Muneeb softens tone, backs PM’s decision to extend lockdown

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman said that the Pakistani Ulema do not wish to spread anarchy in the country, a day after the scholars had announced that lockdown measures will not be applicable on mosques across the country, Geo News reported.

Speaking to Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri via telephone, he backed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to extend the countrywide lockdown and said that Ulema would indulge in discussions to draw up a futureroadmap for congregational prayers. The minister invited Mufti Rehman to attend a meeting on Saturday (April 18) where a joint decision over Friday prayers and Itikaf would be taken.

Qadri, a day earlier, had urged Ulema for consensuses rather than individual decisions. He said that clerics from all sects would be taken into confidence in the meeting on Saturday. Mufti Rehman lamented over arrests made in Karachi by the Sindh government and said that they had gone against their promise of not arresting anyone who goes to the mosque during the lockdown.

Decisions should not be taken in haste. Rather, they should be based on reason, he said. “We are ready to hear reasonable suggestions while standing firm on our principles.” “There is no problem pertaining to any religious or worldly issue that does not have an agreeable and practical solution,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mufti Taqi Usmani said Wednesday Qadri, had invited him for the April 18 meeting. Mufti Usmani said that the minister had declared the Ulema’s demands ‘balanced’ and that the government was considering the suggestion given by the religious scholars.

Usmani reiterated that the mosques should be allowed to remain open with precautionary measures intact. A day earlier, Ulema from various schools of thought held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club to declare that the lockdown will no longer be implemented at mosques.

Mufti Rahman had said that Tarawih prayers and Itikaf would continue as per schedule. He had called on people coming to mosques to practice social distancing. Meanwhile, Mufti Usmani had urged the government to not arrest people from within mosques. “All those who have been arrested [for coming to mosques] should be released,” he said.

He had called on worshippers to wear masks and perform ablution at their homes before coming to the mosques. “Remove prayer mats from mosques and ensure sanitisers are available,” he instructed mosque administrators.