Hyderabad: 2nd Friday Under Lockdown Devotees Keep Off Masjids

Hyderabad: Muslims devotees seem to have come to terms with the reality of COVID-19, as most of them prayed at their houses on the second Friday during the lockdown. Almost all mosques including the historic Mecca Masjid adhered to the government regulations and were locked up. Some made futile attempts, though, to enter them.

In order to prevent spreading of Novel Coronavirus pandemic, for the first time in history, continuously for two Fridays the mosques in city wore deserted looks and one could hardly find any namazis in mosques.

According to observers, the devotees followed the instructions of government , ulema and mashaeq and prayed from their houses, given the strong need to maintain social distancing. Meanwhile, the police on duty were seen maintaining distance from one other. Maintaining tight vigil, they foiled any attempts by a handful of youth to enter Mecca Masjid.

"This Friday, the police did not allow even a single namazi including media personnel inside the Mecca Masjid. Later some exceptions were made after the mosque management requested the cops to allow a couple of devotees for upholding the religious obligation of minimal strength," informed one regular namazi.

Most of the mosques including prominent mosques like Mecca Masjid, Qutub Shahi Masjid, Masjid-e-Azizia, Jama Masjid, Masjid-e-Shifa, Masjid-e-Aliya, Masjid-e-Ahle Hadees. Masjid-e-Tauheed and every mosque in city were deserted and followed the instructions and offered juma namaz with three or four people. This southern part of the city witnessed deployment of paramilitary forces including Rapid Action Force (RAF) at Charminar and Mecca Masjid and at some other locations, local police kept vigil. The locals arrived at these mosques to offer prayer were turned back.