Group worship still suspended in Bangsamoro to prevent COVID-19 spread

PRAYER Muslims pray at a makeshift mosque in Marawi City. BONG SARMIENTO

KORONADAL CITY—Islamic scholars (mufti) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have issued a fatwa (religious guideline) extending the suspension of congregational prayers in mosques to stop the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the area.

Abuhuraira Udasan, BARMM grand mufti, said the Regional Darul-Ifta’ (RDI), or Islamic Advisory Council, agreed to prolong the ban on congregational prayers as a precautionary and preventive measure against COVID-19.

“The temporary suspension of the congregational Jum’ah prayers all over the BARMM is indefinitely extended while waiting for the appropriate time for us to relax it,” he said.

According to Udasan, the extension to ban congregational prayers in the region followed the example of “the great scholars (ulama) of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, who are more conversant of the Quran and Sunnah,” or the ways of Prophet Muhammad.

Udasan said the RDI, which he also heads, also decided to extend the suspension of congregational prayers due to the rapid worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that had claimed the lives of thousands of people across the globe.

The RDI first instructed the suspension of congregational prayers on big and small mosques across the region on March 19 until April 10.

Under Islam, it is mandatory for male Muslims to attend congregational prayer on Friday noon in mosques. They are also required to pray five times daily in congregation at mosques or designated prayer areas.

As of Sunday, the BARMM has eight confirmed COVID-19 cases with three deaths, three recoveries, one admitted to the hospital and another on home quarantine, according to its Ministry of Health.

Seventy-one people suspected of being infected with COVID-19 have been on home quarantine.

Outside the region, 87 mosques in General Santos City adopted the fatwa suspending congregational prayers, according to Ustadz Ebrahim Sandigan, chair of the Council of Imams in the city. INQ