COVID-19 and Friday Sermons

ISLAMABAD: The majority of religious clerics on Friday in Islamabad ignored the decree issued by“Darul Afta” of the ‘Pakistan Ulema Council’ (PUC) and ‘Wafaqul Madaris Pakistan’, as it was advised to avoid Urdu speeches during Friday prayers.
A couple of day before, in order to avoid spread of Coronavirus it was advised by “Darul Afta” of the ‘Pakistan Ulema Council’ (PUC) and ‘Wafaqul Madaris Pakistan’ to avoid long Urdu speeches especially during Jumma prayer. It was asked to be restricted only to Arabic sermons before the Jumma prayer.
However, yesterday it was witnessed in many big mosques around the city including Faisal mosque that the congregation prayer and sermons were lengthened against the directive of the government and decree of PUC.
The common citizens in capital also ignored the decree and the preventive directives of the government after hundreds of citizens performed their Sunnah in Masjid.
The decree issued by PUC had said that Sunnah of all five prayers should be performed at homes in order to avoid the possible threat of outbreak of virus.
The mosques in capital were seen jam packed and heavily crowded which is again the violation of decree as the decree had stated that sufficient space should be ensured between prayer lines (Saf) of mosques.
The decree had also said that joint prayers should be offered on bare floor and floors must be cleaned with soap and surf before offering each prayer but once again no heed was paid to the instructions as all the mosques were carpeted and Friday prayers were performed on the carpets.
The decree had stated that aged persons and children should offer prayers at home. Ablution centres of all mosques should be cleaned thoroughly. Soaps and sanitizers should be placed at the ablution centres, but a large number of aged people and children were seen in the mosques including Faisal Mosque and there was no soap or sanitizer which is the violation of decree and a threat to the local people of Pakistan.
On one side the decree says, “Preventive measures are not un-Islamic. Hand shaking and hugging is not obligatory, instead say only Assallamaalaikum to friends and others during meetings,” the decree reads. “People should use masks, sanitizers, as precautionary measures.”
On the other hand many clerics in their sermons criticised the directive of the government asking the citizens to try to spend less time in mosques while performing the prayer due to the threat of coronavirus outbreak.
However, in rest of the Muslim world including; Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait, and Iran have closed the doors of Mosques even on Friday to avoid the spread of virus and protect their citizens and unlike Pakistanis, the citizens of the rest of the Muslim world following the directives of their governments.
It is important to mention that Saudi Arabia, which chairs the Group of 20 major economies, announced an extraordinary virtual leaders summit next week “to put forward a coordinated set of policies to protect people and safeguard the global economy.
Globally, 176 countries have been affected, more than 10,000 people have died and more than 245,000 infected by the disease as it spreads rapidly to new territories.
The epicentre of the outbreak has now shifted to Europe, which is recording a rapid rise in new cases every day. If we do not take the directives of authorities seriously, there is a likelihood of a rapid rise in COVID-19 Cases. Therefore, other than government, people needs to cooperate in this regard to stop the spread of this novel virus.