Illustration: La façade de la Grande Mosque de Paris, le 24 mai 2020. - A picture taken on May 24, 2020 shows the facade of the Great Mosque of Paris, on the second weekend after France eased lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

The French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) called this Saturday for strict compliance with barrier gestures on the occasion of the Eid festival, scheduled for Friday, while health authorities note a "clear increase" in the circulation of Covid-19 in France.

In a press release, the CFCM reminds us of “vigilance and protection measures” in the run-up to this festival, such as “respecting the obligation to wear a mask and physical distancing”, in particular for gatherings and collective prayers , "Wash your hands regularly" and "avoid" hugs and handshakes.

"High-risk gathering period"

“As this is a period of high-risk gatherings”, the Council also calls on “vulnerable people to protect themselves more and not to go to gatherings”. He asks mosques which cannot enforce barrier measures to "refrain from organizing collective prayers for Eid and Friday".

Mosques organizing several prayer services are invited "to space them sufficiently to prevent the faithful from crossing" and the latter are asked to bring "their individual prayer rugs" and perform their ablution at home, according to the statement.

Call to make gatherings 'brief'

Eid el-Adha (feast of sacrifice) or Eid el-Kébir (great feast) is one of the two major Muslim feasts with Eid al-Fitr (breaking the fast). It provides for the sacrifice of a flock, generally a sheep, to be shared with his relatives and the poor, in memory of Abraham's submission to God, ready to offer his son and for whom a sheep was replaced at the last minute.

As the Eid feast takes place this year on a Friday, a day of prayer, the CFCM calls for “keeping the two gatherings brief”. "Likewise, the sacrificial act taking place in slaughterhouses, which are potential" clusters ", must encourage sacrifice by delegation, the spread of the sacrifice over three days and the delivery of the sacrifices to safer points", further emphasizes the French Council for Muslim Worship.

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