Saudi Arabia: Over 20,000 mosques and outdoor areas ready for Eid prayer
6,000 observers to monitor locations to ensure secure environment for worshippers
Dubai: Saudi Arabia has announced that 20,700 mosques and outdoor areas across the Kingdom are ready for the Eid Al Fitr prayer.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance has equipped these locations with necessary safety measures to ensure a secure environment for worshippers.
The ministry has assigned over 6,000 men and women observers to monitor the mosques and prayer areas and to follow up on the operations of the maintenance and operating companies.
If people notice any issues with the services at the mosques, the ministry has requested that they contact them.
According to the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta, if Eid falls on a Friday, the person who attends the Eid prayer is permissible to not attend the Friday prayer, but instead perform the Dhuhr prayer.
However, the ministry advises that it is better to perform both the Eid prayers and the Juma prayers. Those who did not attend the Eid prayer are obligated to perform the Juma prayer.
The ministry has instructed Imams to perform the Juma prayer if it coincides with Eid so that those who did not witness the Eid prayer can perform the Juma prayer. However, if there are not enough worshippers present for the Friday prayer, then the Dhuhr prayer shall be offered.
The ministry emphasised that the call to prayer is not prescribed except in the mosques where the Friday prayer is held. The call to prayer is not prescribed for the Dhuhr prayer on that day.
It is obligatory for those who attended the Eid prayer to offer the Dhuhr prayer if they did not attend the Juma prayer. The ministry cited the Fatwa of the committee which states that saying that the Juma prayer and the Dhuhr prayer are not required to perform for those who offer the Eid prayer is incorrect and wrong.