JEDDAH: People will have to perform Taraweeh and Eid prayers at home to
prevent spreading coronavirus, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti said Friday.
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al Al-Sheikh was responding to people’s queries ahead of Ramadan, which starts next week.
“As it will not be possible to hold Taraweeh prayers at mosques this
year due to the preventive measures taken by authorities to fight the
novel coronavirus, people will have to perform them at home to obtain
the virtue of praying during the blessed nights of Ramadan,” said Al
Al-Sheikh. “It has been established that Prophet Mohammed performed
these prayers at home, and it is known that Taraweeh is Sunnah and not
obligatory. If the status quo persists, making it impossible to hold Eid
prayer at mosques, people will have to pray at home and no sermon will
follow the Eid prayer.”
He said that the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta had
issued a fatwa that it was desirable for whoever missed congregational
Eid prayers to perform it without a sermon following it. “If making up
the prayer for those who missed it with the imam is desirable, this
gives us all the more reason to perform the prayer in countries where
the congregation is not held because this includes performing the ritual
however possible.”
He added that the last date for people to pay Zakat Al-Fitr was before the sunrise of Eid Al-Fitr.
Meanwhile the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen, said that one of the five
imperatives of Sharia was saving lives, especially in the face of “an
invisible enemy,” where all components of society had the duty to fight
it.
He was speaking during a video call held by the OIC International
Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) about the global health emergency.
Al-Othaimeen added: “The participants in the symposium have a great
legal and humanitarian responsibility to explain Sharia provisions about
dealing with this pandemic, raising awareness of its seriousness, and
highlighting the licenses and necessities called for in studies of Fiqh
of calamities. We also need to urge everyone to adhere to the necessary
preventive measures taken by governments to confront this pandemic.”
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