No mosque in Dhaka, sometimes called the City of Mosques, has gone as far as cancelling Friday’s Jummah prayer. All that is really expected of them is to follow the government guidelines on social distancing amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
Visiting two mosques in the capital, two different scenarios have been captured by the UNB photographers.
A relatively small number of devotees at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque have offered Jummah prayer maintaining social distance.
On the other hand, devotees can be seen performing Jummah prayers on the streets in front of the Sobhanbagh Mosque without maintaining any social distance.
Many of the devotees didn’t wear mask while offering prayer in the Sobhanbag mosque.
A week of stringent lockdown has been imposed from Thursday to bring the extreme spike under control after the Delta variant of Coronavirus detected in the country.
Earlier, the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Wednesday issued mandatory guidelines for offering prayers in congregation at mosques across the country during the seven-day tough lockdown.
The ministry, which also made wearing masks mandatory, directed the elderly people, children and the sick to abstain from going to mosques, said a notification on Wednesday.
Besides, the notification said, each mosque should have enough soap, water and sanitizer to ensure health hygiene.
The ministry urged devotees to perform Sunnah prayers and ablution in their respective residences.
In its guideline, the ministry said, the devotees will have to bring their personal prayer mats as authorities will not be allowed to lay out carpets on mosque floors.
Source: United News of Bangladesh