Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, as the holy month of Ramadan begins, Muslim communities around the world are grappling with an unhappy paradox: forced to change the way they celebrate the holiday to comply with social distancing at a time when gathering together is sacred, because Ramadan for Muslims is a time for family and community gatherings, repentance, volunteering and communal prayer.
People attending a prayer service maintain a safe distance at a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan on April 19.
Prayers at a mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on April 21
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. During this time, Muslims often return to their hometowns to reunite with their families, fast from sunrise to sunset, and increase their prayer and charity activities. Usually, during Ramadan, after many hours of fasting, when the sun sets, people often gather around the dining table to share food.
Muslims flock to mosques to participate in night prayers that last for hours. This year, in the context of the widespread pandemic, many Muslim countries have applied lockdown measures or social restrictions, making it difficult for Muslims to fully observe the holy month of Ramadan. Many countries have closed mosques, banned large prayer gatherings; stayed home instead of going to mosques; and shared food with family members instead of gathering dozens of people around large dining tables.
Mosques cleaned and disinfected ahead of Ramadan
So this week, the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims around the world begins without the usual large gatherings at mosques or public places. Muslims are allowed to maintain their obligatory sacred rituals, but still have to ensure not to spread Covid-19.
Jihan Salama and her family in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, are preparing to celebrate at home. “Unfortunately, everyone has to stay at home,” she said. “If this continues, it will be the strangest Ramadan that Islam and all Muslims have to go through.” Traditional lanterns lie abandoned in Cairo’s street markets. Few people have a reason to buy them when there is a nighttime curfew, mosques are closed, and public prayers are banned.
In Jerusalem, decorative lights are hanging along the streets, but the once bustling Arab markets are now eerily quiet.
An Egyptian woman carrying her child walks next to a stall selling traditional Ramadan lanterns in Cairo on April 12.
People shop for the holy month of Ramadan at a Carrefour supermarket in Dubai, UAE on April 19.
Ramadan decorations hang on a street that was sealed off after a family tested positive for Covid-19, in Bahtim, Shubra el-Kheima neighborhood, Qalyoubiya governorate, Egypt.
People go shopping to prepare for the holy month of Ramadan in Baghdad, Iraq on April 21.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has imposed curfews in Mecca and Medina. The government has suspended pilgrimages to the holy sites this year, closed most public places and severely restricted the movement of citizens. Saudi Arabia has said it is paying special attention to the safety of pilgrims and is providing care for 1,200 pilgrims stranded there due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has asked Muslims to celebrate Ramadan at home, while banning millions of civil servants, soldiers and police from returning home for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. "The fear of the coronavirus has prevented us from celebrating Eid with our loved ones," said a social worker in Jakarta. In Malaysia, bazaars, which are a bustling hub for Ramadan shopping, have been closed.
Indonesians have their temperature checked before entering a mosque to pray in Surabaya, East Java province, Indonesia on March 20.
A rapid Covid-19 testing site in Tangerang, Indonesia
Some countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt are trying to relax the lockdown measures so that Muslims can celebrate Ramadan in full with full rituals. Accordingly, believers will have 30-90 minutes to eat dinner together at sunset. People can travel short distances to visit relatives and friends during the month. However, all activities of gathering to break the fast and pray in large groups are prohibited. In addition, Syria is also allowing people to travel to the provinces this week, before the lockdown is re-imposed.
A man in the West Bank city of Nablus packs food boxes to be distributed to poor Palestinian families ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
Poor workers line up to receive free wheat ahead of the holy month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 20.
In countries with large numbers of poor people, mosques and volunteer organizations are still finding ways to get food to them despite widespread lockdowns. In Kashmir, a Muslim-majority territory still disputed by India and Pakistan, volunteers wearing masks and gloves drop sacks of rice, flour, lentils and other Ramadan staples on doorsteps of those in need in the city of Srinagar. They try to do it quietly, so even neighbors don’t know they’re receiving help. “We have to think about their dignity,” said volunteer Sajjad Ahmed.
During Ramadan, Gazans typically receive donations from Turkey, Malaysia, Jordan and elsewhere. But this year, none have reached the area. "Last year at this time, we had three contracts to distribute food to the poor, but this year we have nothing," said Omar Saad, a spokesman for the Salam charity.
In Egypt, churches use their savings to buy food for poor communities or give money to those in need. "We hope this can ease the burden they are facing," said Sheikh Abdel-Rahman, a mosque cleric in Bahtim, Egypt.
The central mosque in Lagos, Nigeria, is almost deserted after the government banned all religious activities for four weeks following the confirmation of the first case of Covid-19.
Black Stone, the sacred stone at the Muslim holy city of Mecca, is usually packed with pilgrims at this time of year.
In Pakistan, some influential Muslim clerics have forced the government to keep mosques open during Ramadan, such as Mullah Abdul Aziz of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, who ordered worshippers to pray shoulder to shoulder. However, clerics in Arabia have urged people to pray at home. Zaheer Abbas, a Muslim, said, "I followed the call on TV. Prayer is prayer. God is not only in the mosque."
