Manama: A drunken man repeatedly interrupted Friday prayers in a Kuwait mosque to praise the imam.
Witnesses reported that the man started talking to the imam at Al Kandari Mosque as soon as the sermon started.
"Shaikh! We do not want you to cause any crisis. Keep cool," the man was quoted as saying to the imam.
"Shaikh! You seem to be doing all right. You are OK (in English)… Great! Continue to be cool. You are OK. We want you to calm things down. Calm things down!"
The witnesses said that the imam ignored the remarks and continued his sermon and that the worshippers did not react.
Following the sermon, the man whose nationality was not revealed by the Al Rai daily, was eventually restrained by the worshippers when he insisted on replacing the imam and leading the prayers. He was handed over to the authorities, the newspaper said.
Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol at all times and no drunken man or woman, Muslim or non-Muslim, is allowed to enter a mosque.
Sermon
Friday prayers, attended by a higher number of worshippers than ritual prayers, consist of a sermon and communal prayers, and worshippers must focus on listening to the imam and must not interrupt him.
Incidents inside mosques are rare. In 2004, a woman wearing a gotra on her head and the imam's traditional gold-rimmed black cloak wanted to deliver the sermon at Al Fateh Mosque in Manama. However, shocked worshippers who discovered her disguise held her as she was about to reach the imam's stand.
