In shadow of coronavirus, Muslims face a Ramadan like never before
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

Friday
January 27, 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
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
In shadow of coronavirus, Muslims face a Ramadan like never before

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
20 April, 2020, 09:20 am
Last modified: 20 April, 2020, 12:07 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

In shadow of coronavirus, Muslims face a Ramadan like never before

From Africa to Asia, the coronavirus has cast a shadow of gloom and uncertainty

Reuters
20 April, 2020, 09:20 am
Last modified: 20 April, 2020, 12:07 pm
Worshippers pray as the Dome of the Rock is seen in the background in the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, after Muslim clerics shut the doors of Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock until further notice as a precaution against coronavirus, March 15, 2020/ Reuters
Worshippers pray as the Dome of the Rock is seen in the background in the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, after Muslim clerics shut the doors of Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock until further notice as a precaution against coronavirus, March 15, 2020/ Reuters

Days before the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, the Islamic world is grappling with an untimely paradox of the new coronavirus pandemic: enforced separation at a time when socialising is almost sacred.

The holiest month in the Islamic calendar is one of family and togetherness – community, reflection, charity and prayer.

But with shuttered mosques, coronavirus curfews and bans on mass prayers from Senegal to Southeast Asia, some 1.8 billion Muslims are facing a Ramadan like never before.

Across the Muslim world the pandemic has generated new levels of anxiety ahead of the holy fasting month, which begins on around Thursday.

In Algiers, Yamine Hermache, 67, usually receives relatives and neighbours at her home for tea and cold drinks during the month that Muslims fast from dusk till dawn. But this year she fears it will be different.

"We may not visit them, and they will not come," she said, weeping. "The coronavirus has made everyone afraid, even of distinguished guests."

In a country where mosques have been closed, her husband Mohamed Djemoudi, 73, worries about something else.

"I cannot imagine Ramadan without Tarawih," he said, referring to additional prayers performed at mosques after iftar, the evening meal in which Muslims break their fast.

In Jordan the government, in coordination with neighbouring Arab countries, is expected to announce a fatwa outlining what Ramadan rituals will be permitted, but for millions of Muslims, it already feels so different.

From Africa to Asia, the coronavirus has cast a shadow of gloom and uncertainty.

'Worst Year Ever'

Around the souks and streets of Cairo, a sprawling city of 23 million people that normally never sleeps, the coronavirus has been disastrous.

"People don't want to visit shops, they are scared of the disease. It's the worst year ever," said Samir El-Khatib, who runs a stall by the historic al-Sayeda Zainab mosque, "Compared with last year, we haven't even sold a quarter."

During Ramadan, street traders in the Egyptian capital stack their tables with dates and apricots, sweet fruits to break the fast, and the city's walls with towers of traditional lanterns known as "fawanees".

But this year, authorities have imposed a night curfew and banned communal prayers and other activities, so not many people see much point in buying the lanterns.

Among the few who ventured out was Nasser Salah Abdelkader, 59, a manager in the Egyptian stock market.

"This year there's no Ramadan mood at all," he said. "I'd usually come to the market, and right from the start people were usually playing music, sitting around, almost living in the streets."

Dampening the festivities before they begin, the coronavirus is also complicating another part of Ramadan, a time when both fasting and charity are seen as obligatory.

'All Kinds Of Togetherness Missed'

In Algeria, restaurant owners are wondering how to offer iftar to the needy when their premises are closed, while charities in Abu Dhabi that hold iftar for low-paid South Asian workers are unsure what to do with mosques now closed.

Mohamed Aslam, an engineer from India who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Abu Dhabi with 14 others is unemployed because of the coronavirus. With his apartment building under quarantine after a resident tested positive, he has been relying on charity for food.

In Senegal, the plan is to continue charity albeit in a limited way. In the beachside capital of Dakar, charities that characteristically hand out "Ndogou", baguettes slathered with chocolate spread, cakes, dates, sugar and milk to those in need, will distribute them to Koranic schools rather than on the street.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, some people will be meeting loved ones remotely this year.

Prabowo, who goes by one name, said he will host Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of the fasting month, via the online meeting site Zoom instead of flying home.

"I worry about the coronavirus," he said. "But all kinds of togetherness will be missed. No iftar together, no praying together at the mosque, and not even gossiping with friends."

World+Biz / Top News

Coronavirus / COVID-19 / Ramadan

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

  •  Gautam Adani, center.Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
    What really worries Indians about Adani's empire
  • Infograph: TBS
    State banks spend 80% of their forex for govt imports in H1
  • A Pakistani ranger is seen standing near Indian (L) and Pakistani flags during a fair in Chamliyal in Jammu and Kashmir in this June 22, 2006 file photo. REUTERS/Amit Gupta/Files
    ‘Intransigence’: India notifies Pakistan of plans to amend Indus Waters Treaty

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

Sketch:TBS

Why we need consumer education for consumer wellbeing

10h | Thoughts
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute. Illustration: TBS

Twin shocks call for stronger domestic policy response

11h | 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

11h | Explorer
Island hopping in Bangladesh?

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

13h | Panorama

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

59m | TBS SPORTS
After all the controversies, how is Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Pathaan’?

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

2h | 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]