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COVID-19: Mosques to resume congregational worship, subject to 50-person limit

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - MARCH 16: General view of Masjid Sultan in Kampong Glam district on March 16, 2020 in Singapore. The mosque is one of the 10 mosques visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases after they returned from a large religious gathering from Malaysia. (Photo by Ore Huiying/Getty Images)
Masjid Sultan in Singapore. (PHOTO: Ore Huiying/Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — Mosques in Singapore will resume congregational worship with limited prayer spaces of up to 50 persons at a time in Phase 2 of reopening after the COVID-19 circuit breaker period.

In a media release on Sunday (21 June), the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) said that Friday prayers and daily congregational prayers will resume from Friday (26 June), with booking of prayer slots through an online prayer booking system.

Mosques will offer 50 slots for each of the five daily congregational prayer immediately after the Azan (prayer call). Only congregants with a valid booking will be allowed entry for these daily congregational prayers.

To enable more worshippers to perform their Friday prayers, the system will limit the number of bookings an individual can make for Friday prayers to only one reservation within a three-week window.

Private worship beyond congregational prayer sessions will continue to be available and subjected to the same limit of 50 persons at any one time.

Two half-hour prayers sessions every Friday

To enable more congregants to perform the Friday prayers, MUIS said that two half-hour prayer sessions will be held every Friday, with about a half-hour interval between the two sessions, to ensure safe crowd management

Sermons and prayers will be shortened to a maximum of 20 minutes. When delivering sermons, imams will stand at least two metres away from the first row and will be required to wear a face shield.

Congregants will pray in marked designated individual spaces one metre apart. They should not mingle with others and should leave the mosque immediately after the prayer sessions.

For individuals who are unable to obtain a slot for the Friday prayers, the Fatwa Committee has advised that it is sufficient and permissible to perform the regular noon (Zuhur) prayer in place of the Friday prayer.

This concession also applies to those who are vulnerable and at risk of infection, such as seniors aged 60 years and above and those with pre-existing chronic conditions. These groups, as well as children below the age of 12, are discouraged from attending Friday prayers for the time being.

MUIS said that it hopes to gradually increase the congregation limit if the situation remains stable during Phase 2 reopening, and mosques are able to implement the safe management measures.

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