Anti-epidemic measures of European Muslims find no support in Northern Caucasus

An online worship service was held under the coronavirus quarantine in a mosque in Helsinki. The head of the Muslim Coordination Centre of Northern Caucasus has criticized the option of distance prayers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 16, the Russia's Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) recommended to shorten the Friday namaz (prayer) and impose restrictions on visiting mosques. The measures are aimed at preventing the COVID-19 infection spread. The Muftiates of a number of regions followed the recommendations, but in Chechnya they restricted themselves to calls for observing the hygiene rules.

All the mosques in the European Union (EU) and other European countries are closed for quarantine, Abdul-Vakhed Niyazov, the head of the European Muslim Forum, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Both Friday prayers and ordinary prayers are not conducted," he has stressed.

According to Niyazov, on March 20, the first Friday online namaz (prayer) in the history of Islam was held in a Helsinki mosque.

Ismail Berdiev, the head of the Muslims' Coordination Centre of Northern Caucasus, has spoken out against remote prayers. "A prayer can't be a remote one – it can be either collective or individual," Mr Berdiev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 21, 2020 at 05:38 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.