Muslims mark Ramadan with unprecedented virus lockdowns
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
Muslims mark Ramadan with unprecedented virus lockdowns

Coronavirus chronicle

BSS/AFP
24 April, 2020, 12:30 pm
Last modified: 24 April, 2020, 12:38 pm

Related News

  • India launches world’s 1st intranasal Covid vaccine
  • US CDC still looking at potential stroke risk from Pfizer bivalent Covid shot
  • China says Covid deaths down by nearly 80 percent
  • UAE astronaut says not required to fast during Ramadan on ISS
  • Updated Covid vaccines prevented illness from latest variants -CDC

Muslims mark Ramadan with unprecedented virus lockdowns

This year, the holy daytime fasting month will be a sombre affair for many across Asia, the Middle East and North Africa

BSS/AFP
24 April, 2020, 12:30 pm
Last modified: 24 April, 2020, 12:38 pm
Photo: AFP via BSS
Photo: AFP via BSS

Muslims around the world began marking Ramadan under coronavirus lockdown on Friday with unprecedented bans on family gatherings and mass prayers, while a pushback in some countries has sparked fears of a surge in infections.

This year, the holy daytime fasting month will be a sombre affair for many across Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Widespread rules have been imposed banning praying in mosques or meeting relatives and friends for large "iftar" meals at dusk — a centrepiece of the month-long fast.

The restrictions have put a damper on spirits in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority nation, where national religious organisations have called on the faithful to stay at home.

"This Ramadan is very different — it's just not festive," said Indonesian housewife Fitria Famela.

"I'm disappointed that I can't go to the mosque, but what can we do? The world is different now."

However, some religious leaders in Asia — home to nearly a billion of the world's Muslims — have waved off fears about the spread of COVID-19.

The top Islamic organisation in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province publicly bucked a national order to stay at home.

Several thousand worshippers attended evening prayers Thursday at the biggest mosque in the region's capital Banda Aceh — though crowds were smaller than usual.

"I'm not worried because I'm wearing a face mask and keeping my distance," said Cut Fitrah Riskiah, one of those taking part.

The threat of large religious gatherings has been highlighted in recent weeks by waves of infections in Asia, linked to separate, massive Islamic congregations in Malaysia, Pakistan and India.

And the World Health Organization has called for a stop to some Ramadan activities to limit exposure.

And Pakistan has seen its mosques crammed in the lead up to Ramadan with the faithful sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and paying little heed to social distancing.

– 'We must accept it' –

Mohamad Shukri Mohamad, the top Islamic cleric in the conservative Malaysian state of Kelantan, planned to skip public prayers and family meals — even if it meant not seeing his six children and 18 grandchildren.

"This is the first time in my life that I've been unable to go the mosque," he told AFP.

"But we must accept it and obey the rules of social distancing to protect our lives."

Muslim-majority Malaysia has extended a strict lockdown until mid-May with mosques, schools and most businesses closed — and police checkpoints set up to catch rulebreakers.

Even popular Ramadan bazaars, where Muslims buy local delicacies before breaking their fast, have been banned.

Instead, Malaysians can only order from so-called "e-bazaars", where people order goods online and have them delivered to their homes.

In neighbouring Indonesia, fears of a spike in coronavirus cases when millions travel to hometowns and ancestral villages at the end of Ramadan has forced the country of some 260 million to issue a ban on the annual exodus.

The government has also announced a clampdown on all air and sea travel across the 17,000-island archipelago.

Jakarta resident Erik Febrian said he was relying on a computer to allow him to keep in touch with his out-of-town parents until he can see them in person at the end of Ramadan.

"Thanks to technology I can video-call my parents every day during Ramadan," he said. "And keep an eye on their health."

Top News

Ramadan / lockdown / Coronavirus / COVID-19

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

  • How will Bangladesh pay for massive upcoming power projects this year?
    How will Bangladesh pay for massive upcoming power projects this year?
  • Photo: Mumit M/TBS
    Additional Tk2,682cr sought for Padma Bridge project
  • Now is the time to focus on FDI composition
    Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

MOST VIEWED

  • 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
  • A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
    US proposes once-a-year Covid shots for most Americans

Related News

  • India launches world’s 1st intranasal Covid vaccine
  • US CDC still looking at potential stroke risk from Pfizer bivalent Covid shot
  • China says Covid deaths down by nearly 80 percent
  • UAE astronaut says not required to fast during Ramadan on ISS
  • Updated Covid vaccines prevented illness from latest variants -CDC

Features

Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

Now is the time to focus on FDI composition

1h | Panorama
Sketch:TBS

Why we need consumer education for consumer wellbeing

21h | Thoughts
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute. Illustration: TBS

Twin shocks call for stronger domestic policy response

22h | Thoughts
December-er shohor, taxi taken for airport and the Park Street bathed in lights. Photo: Jannatul Naym Pieal

Exploring Kolkata on foot, empowered by Google Maps

23h | Explorer

More Videos from TBS

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

1d | TBS Stories
Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

1d | TBS Stories
Gavi may have to leave Camp Nou

Gavi may have to leave Camp Nou

12h | TBS SPORTS
After all the controversies, how is Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Pathaan’?

After all the controversies, how is Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Pathaan’?

14h | TBS Entertainment

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]