Mauritania had suspended Friday prayer in an effort to avoid rallies and prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19), the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Original Education said.
“It is brought to the attention of all imams that Friday prayers are suspended as of Friday March 27, 2020 across the country, considering the evolution of the current sanitary situation,” the ministry said in a statement issued Thursday evening.
This measure is an unprecedented move in the history of this Islamic Republic, according to various testimonies.
The suspension comes in response to the request of many ulemas and imams who were based on the Holy Koran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (Puh), and on the various other sources of Muslim law.
Mauritania recorded Thursday its third case of Covid-19 and the first involving a Mauritanian national. The 74-year-old returned from France on March 15 but had not been subject to lockdown.
MOO/cgd/fss/APA