Muslims around the world celebrated today the first days of Eid Al-Adha amid exceptional measures due to the Corona pandemic, which imposed precautionary measures on them such as physical distance and wearing masks.
In occupied Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinians have flocked since the early morning hours to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the Eid prayer year, even though the Israeli occupation authorities deny most Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip access to Jerusalem to perform the prayers.
"The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is a mosque for Muslims, and only an aggressor or an unjust participant participates in it," the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestinian homes, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, said in the sermon of Eid.
Referring to the Israeli occupation authorities, he added, "They think, disappointed and their shares have been deceived, by their arrogance, their strength and the supplying of the unjust world to them, that they will achieve a foothold in Al-Aqsa Mosque for them, disappointed and lost."
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem called on the Palestinians to unite, saying, "You must unite, then unite. You have no choice before the dangers that threaten your Jerusalem, your holy sites, your land, and your rights except unity." He paid tribute to the martyrs and prisoners in Israeli prisons.
The Corona virus imposed on the worshipers special protective arrangements that included wearing masks, bringing prayer mats with them, and keeping physical spacing. The mosque guards and the regime's committees in it urged worshipers to keep their distance during prayer. With the end of the prayers, Palestinians distributed sweets and prayers to the outside gates of the mosque and its courtyards.
The Eid prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque today comes one day after settlers carried out extensive incursions into the mosque’s grounds to revive the so-called ruin of the Temple among the Jews.
Aa Sofia,
in the Turkish city of Istanbul, attention turned to the Hagia Sophia Mosque, which embraced worshipers who were keen to perform Eid prayers in it for the first time in 86 years.
Thousands of worshipers from various regions of Istanbul and the Turkish states went to the Hagia Sophia to perform the first Eid prayer after it reopened for worship, and the Hagia Sophia also went to worshipers coming from outside Turkey as well, filling the historic mosque and the surrounding squares.
Prior to the Eid prayer, the Turkish authorities in and around Hagia Sophia strengthened security arrangements and measures to prevent Corona virus. The holiday sermon in Hagia Sophia was delivered by Turkish President of Religious Affairs Ali Arbash, in the presence of a number of Turkish officials, including Parliament Speaker Mustafa Shantoub and the Wali of Istanbul, Ali Yerelkaya and parliamentarians.
In Indonesia, the most populated country in the Muslim world, Muslims flocked to large mosques and arenas to perform Eid prayers, while the authorities stressed the need to use protective measures against corona, by wearing masks and taking into account the distance of social distance.
And the authorities in the capital Jakarta announced the extension of some of the restrictions to prevent corona until next August 13, and most of the worshipers stated that they used the preventive measures against the Corona virus, and a number of them said, "Living with the epidemic has become part of their lives."
Of the Sudan .. call for unity
in Sudan has led worshipers Eid al - Adha prayers in the squares of foreign mosques and public squares, under pandemic Corona. Hundreds of worshipers gathered in a public square in the center of the capital, Khartoum, with care to wear masks.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs directed last Tuesday to hold Eid prayers according to specific health requirements, with shortened prayer and sermon times, and that each worshiper carry his own prayer rug, and not to shake hands and hugs after the prayer, for fear of a corona spread.
The President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, used the occasion to call on his citizens to "spread a spirit of tolerance, renounce division and work to consolidate the principles of a democratic approach."
In his speech addressed to the Sudanese people, on the occasion of the blessed Eid Al-Adha feast, Al-Burhan said that his country "is passing through these exceptional circumstances imposed by the reality of the transition and the serious pursuit of the transformation towards a state of institutions."
In the Japanese capital, Tokyo, Muslims in Japan performed the blessed Eid Al-Adha prayers at the Tokyo Mosque, amid measures to prevent and warn against the Corona virus, as all the worshipers were measured the temperature before entering the mosque, and the Eid sermon was delivered in Japanese, Arabic, English and Turkish.