AfricaPress-Tanzania: MUSLIMS here are busy preparing for the Holy Month of Ramadan which begins globally at the end of this week as clerics urge believers to observe health precautions to avoid contracting COVID-19 disease.
Parents on the other hand are trying to stock non perishable foods from markets for the Holy Month, with no hope of getting back to traditional communal or mass prayers which is being discouraged to minimize the spread of coronavirus. Ramadan begins on Thursday or Friday this week, depending on sighting of the moon.
The Mufti Office (responsible for Muslim affairs in the Islands) has issued prayer guidance to believers, mainly emphasizing on social distancing in mosques while praying or for each person to pray at home.
Ramadan is the holiest month for Muslims, in which they fast during daylight hours and congregate for prayers and share meals as a community, but due to COVID-19, the tradition will be disrupted indefinitely, sparking debate among followers about the powers of coronavirus on religious activities.
Saudi Arabia’s minister for Islamic affairs has been quoted telling Muslims in his country that they may only pray at home during the month, as a strict ban on public gatherings had already been in place since March 19, in a country which has seen more than 5,000 positive cases of the virus and whose memory of the 2012 MERS outbreak is still fresh.
Saudi authorities had also earlier cancelled the smaller year-round umrah pilgrimage in March, and told Muslims around the world to suspend plans for this year’s hajj, which draws two to three million pilgrims to the country.
Theological discussions whether to fast have also opened up globally.
Traditionally, exemptions from the obligation to avoid food and drink from sunrise to sunset have only applied to groups such as those who are sick or pregnant, travellers or the elderly.
Some views from medical doctors in various countries argue against fasting because it dries out the throat and increases the risk of infection, but Islamic researchers in Egypt at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, which specializes in religious law, have maintained that fasting is mandatory until any harmful effects in connection with the virus are medically proven.
