Al-Aqsa preacher's voice echoes across Jerusalem devoid of Ramadan crowds
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
January 28, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2023
Al-Aqsa preacher's voice echoes across Jerusalem devoid of Ramadan crowds

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
24 April, 2020, 05:45 pm
Last modified: 24 April, 2020, 05:50 pm

Related News

  • Jordan condemns in "severest" terms Israeli minister's visit to Al-Aqsa mosque
  • At flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, whispered prayers defy unwritten accord
  • Al-Aqsa Mosque: Five things you need to know
  • Violence erupts at al-Aqsa mosque as Israel marks Jerusalem Day
  • Turkey accuses Israel of 'terror' over Palestinian clashes at Al-Aqsa

Al-Aqsa preacher's voice echoes across Jerusalem devoid of Ramadan crowds

In normal years during Ramadan Friday prayers Muslim worshippers gather by the tens of thousands

Reuters
24 April, 2020, 05:45 pm
Last modified: 24 April, 2020, 05:50 pm
A Palestinian mosque keeper prays in a mosque on the first Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan as prayers by worshippers in the holy places are suspended due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the northern Gaza Strip April 24, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian mosque keeper prays in a mosque on the first Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan as prayers by worshippers in the holy places are suspended due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the northern Gaza Strip April 24, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

An imam standing atop an 18-foot pulpit in a near-empty Al-Aqsa Mosque delivered the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in Jerusalem, his voice echoing across an empty and windswept plateau almost devoid of worshippers.

In historic scenes rarely, if ever, witnessed at the third holiest site in Islam, below him kneeled only a handful of Muslim clerics in facemasks, staying several feet apart because of coronavirus restrictions.

"We ask God to have mercy on us and all of humanity and to save us from this lethal pandemic," the imam said.

In normal years during Ramadan Friday prayers Muslim worshippers gather by the tens of thousands on the tree-lined hilltop plateau that lies at the heart of Jerusalem's Old City and is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

But this year the 35-acre compound around Al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock was almost deserted, just a tiny handful of faithful standing in a short line, rising and kneeling in unison.

Few also turned up outside the walls of the Old City, just 10 people - the maximum allowed by Israeli authorities - praying outside Lion's Gate facing the Mount of Olives.

Israel has reported nearly 15,000 cases of coronavirus, with 193 deaths. In the Palestinian Territories around 350 cases have been confirmed, with two fatalities.

In March, Muslim religious authorities closed the gates to worshippers due to the coronavirus epidemic, and this has been extended throughout Ramadan.

Jewish and Christian religious authorities have imposed similar precautionary measures at their holy sites, including the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: Mumit M/TBS
    Biz leaders want crisis management, energy security for survival
  • Photo: Bloomberg
    Govt may defer gas price hike to April
  • Good at ducking.Photographer: David Hecker/Getty Images
    Forget 'autonomy': Europe needs the US as much as ever

MOST VIEWED

  • People walk with their luggage at a railway station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Shanghai, China January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs
  • Photo: Collected
    India launches world’s 1st intranasal Covid vaccine
  • A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) booster vaccine targeting BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub variants is pictured at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 8, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier
    US CDC still looking at potential stroke risk from Pfizer bivalent Covid shot
  •  A medical worker checks the IV drip treatment of a patient lying on a bed in the emergency department of a hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Staff
    China says Covid deaths down by nearly 80 percent
  • Sean Bagley, 14, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) booster vaccine targeting BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub variants at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 8, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier
    Updated Covid vaccines prevented illness from latest variants -CDC
  • People embrace at the international arrivals gate at Beijing Capital International Airport after China lifted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) quarantine requirement for inbound travellers in Beijing, China January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
    China says peak Covid infections exceeded 7 million daily, deaths more than 4,000 daily

Related News

  • Jordan condemns in "severest" terms Israeli minister's visit to Al-Aqsa mosque
  • At flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, whispered prayers defy unwritten accord
  • Al-Aqsa Mosque: Five things you need to know
  • Violence erupts at al-Aqsa mosque as Israel marks Jerusalem Day
  • Turkey accuses Israel of 'terror' over Palestinian clashes at Al-Aqsa

Features

Snipe in flight. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Baikka Beel: 'A world where snipe work late'

7h | Panorama
Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Pet cafes: Where love for food and animals cohabit

9h | Food
Illustration: TBS

How MFS is turbocharging national economy

12h | Thoughts
Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

14h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

3h | TBS Entertainment
15 Reasons Your Entrepreneurial Career Can Fail

15 Reasons Your Entrepreneurial Career Can Fail

2h | TBS Career
Women are going to make history in match management in cricket

Women are going to make history in match management in cricket

1h | TBS SPORTS
Gold covered mummy discovered in Egypt

Gold covered mummy discovered in Egypt

7h | TBS World

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]