With places of worship set to open on Monday, the State government has asked mosques to have staggered timings for Friday prayers and to disinfect mosques daily, even as the religious places have been asked to complete prayers in the minimum time possible.
Churches have been allowed to hold Mass on weekdays if the number of people are more for the Sunday Mass while restrictions have been placed on the Holy Communion. The guidelines were issued by the Department of Minority Welfare, Haj and Waqf for the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities. The guidelines for reopening temples had been announced earlier.
The places of worship have been prohibited from hosting large congregations, and social distancing, staggered entry of visitors, and wearing masks have been made mandatory. These places will have thermal screening.
The directions to mosques include, disinfecting mosques daily and to avoid common prayer mats. Devotees have to carry their own namaaz carpets and will have to perform ‘Wazu’ (abulation) at their homes. The mosque managements have been asked to disinfect the mosques after the ‘Isha Namaaz’.
The guidelines have directed imams to restrain long ‘Zikr’ (dua) and complete Friday prayers in 15 minutes. Mosques have to fix timings to finish the ‘Farz Salath’. Mosques have been allowed to open for all five daily prayers and dargahs will be open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Besides the directions on public Mass, churches have been prohibited from the use of liturgical booklets and hymnals.
The Holy Communion will have to be received strictly on hand or through other alternative methods prescribed by the bishop for the time being.