The highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia on Sunday called on Muslims to “set an example” by observing the coronavirus containment measures set by temporal authorities worldwide.
The call by the Senior Ulama Council came as Muslims prepared to observe the holy month of Ramadan.
Saudi authorities announced 1,088 more coronavirus cases and five more deaths since Saturday, as government data continued to show wide daily spreads of the contagion in the world's top oil exporting nation.
The latest toll announced by the health ministry took the total number of people infected with the coronavirus in the kingdom to 9,362 and deaths to 97. The authorities announced 1,132 cases on Saturday.
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Coronavirus in the region
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Police officers check vehicles on the empty Ataturk Airport road on the road during 48-hour restrictions imposed to stem the spread of coronavirus in Ankara, Turkey. AFP -
Shiite Muslim men carry a coffin to the Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib mosque in Iraq's central shrine city of Najaf during a funeral procession, one of the very rare ceremonies still allowed in the city during the coronavirus pandemic. AFP -
People walk past a damaged building depicting drawings alluding to the coronavirus and encouraging people to stay at home, in the rebel-held Idlib city, Syria. Reuters -
A member of the Kurdish internal security forces stands in the middle of an empty road in the city of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province a day after local authorities of the Kurdish-dominated northern part of war-torn Syria recorded its first death due to the coronavirus outbreak. AFP -
A car drives past Le Bristol hotel in Beirut, Lebanon. One of the country's landmark hotels that has survived the country's bloody 15-year civil war is closing its doors due to a combination of an economic crisis and the global health threat of coronavirus. AP Photo -
Workers from the Kuwait Ministry of Public Works paves a road near the capital as the Ministry takes the opportunity to repair and repave roads during the curfew hours. AFP -
The empty Galata bridge in Istanbul, as Turkish government announced further restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. AFP -
Men sit outside a closed shop along a street in Erbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region. AFP -
The empty Istiklal street in Istanbul, Turkey. EPA -
An Iraqi Kurdish woman and her relative outside their home in Erbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region. AFP -
The empty shore side of the Golden Horn, with the Metro bridge in the foreground and Unkapani bridge in the background, in Istanbul. AFP -
A Palestinian groom, Rafeh Qassim, wears a mask as he sits in a car with his bride on their wedding day, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters -
A member of the security forces checks his new haircut, provided by a volunteer hairdresser, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. AFP -
Lebanese bride and groom Joanna and Marc wearing protective masks designed as a national flag, pose for pictures during their wedding cermony attended only by close relatives amid the COVID-19 pandemic, at the Saint Georges church in the Hadath region, east of the capital Beirut. AFP -
Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Hebron. EPA -
Police officers check vehicles on the empty Kizilay Square in Ankara. AFP -
A member of the medical staff at Moroccos's military field hospital in Nouaceur, South of Casablanca, inspects the beds as they prepare to receive patients of the coronavirus pandemic. AFP -
A member of the medical staff at Moroccos's military field hospital in Nouaceur, South of Casablanca, checks a monitor as staff prepared to receive patients of the coronavirus pandemic. AFP -
An employee of the Ankara Municipality staff feed pigeons in a park in Ankara. AFP -
A man wearing a compulsory face mask observes his neighborhood from a hill during a health state of emergency and home confinement orders in Rabat, Morocco. AP Photo -
A man paints outside his home while a woman wearing a face mask walks past during a health state of emergency and home confinement order in Rabat, Morocco. AP Photo
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The Senior Ulama Council comprises a group of influential scholars appointed by the king and headed by the mufti.
The scholars said in a statement that Muslims everywhere, whether citizens or residents in any country, must set “an example” in “exercising ultimate care” by obeying coronavirus measures.
“Muslims should be an example to be emulated [and] worship while adhering to the precautionary and pre-emptive measures,” they said.
The worldwide measures, the ulama said, generally conform to Sharia principles of “circumventing harm as much as possible”.
The council repeated a call by the mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Al Sheikh, on Muslims to perform Ramadan rituals at home.
Muslims should pray the standard and extra prayers associated with Ramadan, known as Tarawih, at home if “respective authorities so recommend”.
Breaking the fast should be also done at home and not at mass gatherings such as public iftars, the religious officials said.
The traditionally social nature of Ramadan, which starts this week, will pose a major challenge to the Saudi government.
Despite efforts by the clerics to support the government’s wide-ranging measures to limit the contagion, Saudi officials said there was a significant lack of compliance.
The authorities imposed bans on movement in outlying areas of the kingdom at the weekend, in another tightening of restrictions that began five weeks ago with the sealing of major cities.
The interior ministry sealed four districts in the Al Ahsa and Jizan governorates, and said the 24-hour lockdown in these areas was indefinite.
Jizan has 22 recorded cases, and Al Ahsa 209, according to government data.
The health ministry urged business owners on Friday to help migrant workers avoid infection by supplying them with protective gear and to help them reduce their risk of exposure to the coronavirus.
