In Islam’s holiest sanctuary in Makkah, the usually crowded courtyard around the Holy Kaaba in the Grand Mosque, towards which all Muslims pray, was silent and empty. But as the pandemic spread, some governments suspended communal prayers or closed mosques entirely, leaving many of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims to pray at home, at work, in parks or in the street. A religious gathering in Malaysia last month, attended by 16,000 people, generated 670 coronavirus cases in four countries in Southeast Asia. Weekly prayers were later called off in MalaysiaCrowded shrines in Iran helped accelerate the spread of one of the largest outbreaks of the coronavirus so far. Some mosques broadcast an altered version of the call to prayer, exhorting the faithful to stay at home.

Source: The Express Tribune March 21, 2020 08:03 UTC