Sunni Wakf council in Kirkuk is concerned that the crisis sell has neglected their demands to reopen the mosques, while local markets and most of the public places are reopened as coronavirus measures are lifted.
Churches, mosques, and temples have been closed since mid-March when a national lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus was announced.
The strict measures are lifted in Kirkuk from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Fridays and Saturdays, but a decision to reopened the religious shrines is yet to be made.
“The Sunni Wakf is 'loses hopes' on the reopening of the mosques, we still do not know whether Eid’s congregational prayer would be performed,” Samal Barznji, the spokesperson of the council said.
The crisis cell in Kirkuk had asked the Sunni Wakf for a series of mechanism and conditions to reopen the mosques, however, after a week of submitting the conditions, the council has not received a response from the crisis cell.
Barznji indicated that the plan was to reopen 350 mosques out of 800 in Kirkuk, that each of the 350 mosques occupies an area of a thousand square meters, allowing mosque attendees to keep social distancing while performing congregational prayers.
Kirkuk, a gathering of preachers and mosques attendees to reopen the mosques during Ramadan, April 23, 2020. Photo: KirkukNow
“We asked for closing the bathrooms of the mosques, and assigning some people to continuously keep cleaning the mosques.”
We will not allow any funeral or religious activities and the mosque attendees will wear masks and gloves. Also, Friday prayer will last in 10 minutes, after which the mosques will be closed, the spokesperson added.
On April 23, a number of imams and mosque attendees, in a protest, demanded the reopening of the mosques during the month of Ramadan, claiming they will adhere to medical instructions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Shamil Ghafur, 56, is one of the persons who always performs congregational prayers. He asks for the reopening of the mosques in the last days of Ramadan.
“The government has no excuse to keep the mosques closed. We are surprised that the house of god is not mentioned in the new announcements and they do not take our concern into consideration,” Ghafur.
“Thousands of mosque attendees desperately want the mosques to be reopened.”
71 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, among which 59 recovered and two died.
Barznji said that, “the government allowed the local market to be reopened, which are very crowded due to Eid. But there is no decision to open the mosques and the hearts of thousand Muslim are broken.”
3724 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Iraq. 2438 patients have recovered and 134 died. There are 1114 active cases.
Kirkuk, Civil Defense team is disinfecting a mosque, March 2020. Photo: Local Administration Media
Sunni Wakf council in Kirkuk is concerned that the crisis sell has neglected their demands to reopen the mosques, while local markets and most of the public places are reopened as coronavirus measures are lifted.
Churches, mosques, and temples have been closed since mid-March when a national lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus was announced.
The strict measures are lifted in Kirkuk from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Fridays and Saturdays, but a decision to reopened the religious shrines is yet to be made.
“The Sunni Wakf is lost hope on the reopening of the mosques, we still do not know whether Eid’s congregational prayer would be performed,” Samal Barznji, the spokesperson of the council said.
The crisis cell in Kirkuk had asked the Sunni Wakf for a series of mechanism and conditions to reopen the mosques, however, after a week of submitting the conditions, the council has not received a response from the crisis cell.
Barznji indicated that the plan was to reopen 350 mosques out of 800 in Kirkuk, that each of the 350 mosques occupies an area of a thousand square meters, allowing mosque attendees to keep social distancing while performing congregational prayers.
Kirkuk, a gathering of preachers and mosques attendees to reopen the mosques during Ramadan, April 23, 2020. Photo: KirkukNow
“We asked for closing the bathrooms of the mosques, and assigning some people to continuously keep cleaning the mosques.”
We will not allow any funeral or religious activities and the mosque attendees will wear masks and gloves. Also, Friday prayer will last in 10 minutes, after which the mosques will be closed, the spokesperson added.
On April 23, a number of imams and mosque attendees, in a protest, demanded the reopening of the mosques during the month of Ramadan, claiming they will adhere to medical instructions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Shamil Ghafur, 56, is one of the persons who always performs congregational prayers. He asks for the reopening of the mosques in the last days of Ramadan.
“The government has no excuse to keep the mosques closed. We are surprised that the house of god is not mentioned in the new announcements and they do not take our concern into consideration,” Ghafur.
“Thousands of mosque attendees desperately want the mosques to be reopened.”
71 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, among which 59 recovered and two died.
Barznji said that, “the government allowed the local market to be reopened, which are very crowded due to Eid. But there is no decision to open the mosques and the hearts of thousand Muslim are broken.”
3724 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Iraq. 2438 patients have recovered and 134 died. There are 1114 active cases.
