Mosques reopen in Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem

TENS OF thousands of mosques across Saudi Arabia reopened yesterday for the first time in more than two months, with worshippers ordered to follow strict guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as Islam’s holiest site in Mecca remained closed to the public.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s holiest site outside of Saudi Arabia, also reopened for prayers for the first time since it was closed in mid-March.

With little regard for social distancing, throngs waited outside the holy site’s gates before it opened yesterday, with many wearing surgical masks. As they were allowed to enter, the faithful stopped to have their temperature measured.

The mosque was one of Jerusalem’s many holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall, that were restricted to worshippers at the height of Israel’s coronavirus outbreak. Throughout that period, worshippers continued to pray in the alleyways outside the mosque.

Jews also resumed their pilgrimages yesterday to the hilltop compound they revere as the Temple Mount, site of the two Jewish biblical temples.

In Saudi Arabia, the government prepared for the reopening of around 90 000 mosques after sanitising prayer rugs, wash rooms and shelves holding copies of the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book.

Children under 15 years old were not being allowed inside mosques. The elderly and those with chronic conditions were told to pray at home. People are also being advised to perform the mandatory ablution at home since wash rooms at mosques will be closed, to use hand sanitisers and to bring their own prayer rugs and copies of the Qur’an.

The restrictions call for mosques to open just 15 minutes before each of the five daily prayers and to close 10 minutes after they conclude. Friday sermons and prayers are to last no longer than 15 minutes.

Yesterday, Saudi Arabia also lifted a ban on domestic air travel and permitted some public sector workers to resume office work again, though full attendance will not be allowed until mid-June.

However, the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which houses the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims around the world pray toward, will remain closed to the public. The city has been under a strict lockdown for several weeks. The mosque in Medina where the Prophet Muhammad is buried will be partially opened to the public to pray outside.

Israel has weathered the coronavirus better than other harder-hit countries. It has recorded fewer than 300 deaths and has managed to mostly keep its daily infection count to the low dozens since the beginning of May.

In Pakistan meanwhile, the country’s daily death toll from Covid-19 kept climbing, hitting a new high of 88 overnight. Amid reports of an acute bed shortage and near daily warnings from health professionals to tighten lockdown measures, the government has kept mosques open.

Pakistan’s coronavirus death toll of 1 483 is third only to Iran and Turkey in the Middle East. The country has counted 69 496 positive cases. | AP