Mosques deserted, but homes fill up with prayers

Mosques deserted, but homes fill up with prayers

Srinagar: Even though prayers at mosques are not being held due to the coronavirus lockdown, people are not giving up on the spirit of Ramadan. Family members are praying collectively within their homes, with an elderly member of the family leading the prayers like an Imam.
The Jammu and Kashmir government as well as religious leaders have urged people to pray at homes, instead of going to mosques for congregational prayers, which usually are the prime attraction of Ramadan.
The advisory has come in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected every corner of the world and hasn’t spared Kashmir. So far, Kashmir valley has witnessed seven deaths, and more than 500 cases of the highly contagious disease.
Muslims across the world, except in a few countries, are offering prayers at home this Ramadan. Top religious leaders have assured that praying at home is as rewarding as praying in mosques.
People in Kashmir are having a new cultural experience of Ramadan, in which breaking the fast collectively at sunset, among the most cherished moments of the month, is sorely missing.
Fayaz Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar, said, “I used to spend most of the time at the mosque during Ramadan but due to the prevailing situation we’re not able to pay even a visit to the mosque. Now we hold collective prayers at home with our families to make ourselves entitled to the reward of praying collectively.”
Abdul Rehman, who has two sons and a daughter, said, “I and my children collectively recite taraweeh prayers at our home. It is all going good, Alhamdullilah, though we miss the gathering and bustle of mosques, reciting naats, etc.”
A regular Naat-Khawaan at a Srinagar mosque, who recited naats on loudspeaker prior to the time of Sehri, lamented over “what has befallen him”. He says he cannot even go to the mosque that “reverberated with naats and munajaat during Ramadan.”
The sense of siege because of the lockdown is also inot going well with the elderly, who bemoan the loss of the age-old tradition of keeping themselves constantly immersed in praising Allah and his beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) at mosques in the form of reciting Quran and offering Nawafils as well as Tahajud.

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