Eidul Azha being celebrated with religious fervour in Saudi Arabia, Gulf states

MAKKAH/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, taking precautions against the novel coronavirus such as wearing face masks and temperature checks, are celebrating Eidul Azha on Friday. Magnificent scenes of the Eid prayers were witnessed in Ak-Haram Mosque and Masjid-e-Nabuwi (SAW). In Turkey, Eid prayers were offered in Hagia Sophia after 86 years. In Indonesia, worshippers were advised to maintain social distancing during the prayers as the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country struggles to contain the spread of the virus. Indonesia’s religious ministry also asked mosques to shorten ceremonies this year, while many mosques cancelled the ritual of slaughtering livestock and distributing meat to the community. Instead the donated sheep, goats and cows will be butchered in abattoirs to mark the ‘Feast of the Sacrifice’, celebrated by Muslims around the world to commemorate Prophet Hazrat Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail at God’s command. “This year’s Eid al-Adha is very different from previous years because we need to follow health protocols as we perform prayers, like maintaining social distancing,” said Devita Ilhami, 30, who was at the Sunda Kelapa mosque in Jakarta. She also noted they had to bring their own prayer mats, with markers on the ground to show where they should be laid. Elsewhere in Asia, Muslims including in Thailand and Malaysia prayed in or outside mosques wearing masks. In Malaysia, while some mosques cancelled the ritual of slaughtering livestock, 13 cows were killed in the traditional way by cutting the throat under rules limiting the number of animals and people at the Tengku Abdul Aziz Shah Jamek mosque in Kuala Lumpur.