Muslims get ready for unique Ramadan
coronavirus pandemic was expected to cut off the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims from their cherished Ramadan traditions as health officials battle to ward off new infections during Islam’s holiest month, haunted by multiple outbreaks traced to religious gatherings around the world.
Breaking with tradition
Ramadan, a month of daytime fasting, overnight festivity and communal prayer and giving, begins with the new moon this week and comes in the middle of the worldwide debate over when and how to lift virus restrictions.
The virus has already disrupted Christianity’s Holy Week, Passover, the Muslim hajj pilgrimage and other major religious events.
“Ramadan is coming, and people have nothing to eat,” said Afghan daily laborer Hamayoon, who goes by only one name. “The government must have some mercy on us and allow people to work at least half a day to be able to feed themselves.”
The coronavirus crisis is far from over, however, and the threat of new outbreaks looms large. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed dismay on Thursday, criticizing some states for moving “very briskly, if not to say too briskly” in trying to reopen their economies.
“We’re not living in the final phase of the pandemic, but still at the beginning,” Merkel warned ahead of the European Union summit. “Let us not squander what we have achieved and risk a setback. It would be a shame if premature hope ultimately punishes us all.”
Germany has been praised for its proactive approach to the pandemic, testing widely, shutting down citizens’ movement and achieving a much lower reported death toll, at 5,315, than other large European nations.
As Muslim leaders announce the official start of Ramadan, governments tried to balance health protection with traditions and many have closed mosques or banned collective evening prayers.
In addition to Ramadan’s sunrise-to-sunset fast, families and friends gather for large festive meals at sunset, worshipers go to mosques for hours of evening prayers and communal meals are organized for the poor.
Authorities in the capital of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation, on Thursday extended to May 22 its strict disease-fighting restrictions—covering the whole holy month.
In other countries
Turkey banned communal eating during the holiday and banned Ramadan drummers marking the times for fasting from going door-to-door to collect tips.
Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam said on Thursday that healthy Muslims have a religious obligation to fast despite the global pandemic—but said coronavirus patients would be “the most eligible” for an exemption.
US authorities have also struggled to reconcile religious freedom with stemming the virus.
A federal judge said he will deny a bid by three Southern California churches to hold in-person Church services during the pandemic, saying that government’s emergency powers trump what in normal times would be fundamental constitutional rights.
UN Secretary General António Guterres urged Muslims to “focus on our common enemy—the virus,” and repeated an earlier appeal for an immediate ceasefire for all conflicts.