The Egyptian government is considering canceling celebrations of religious birthdays in the event of an increase in the incidence of “Corona” disease, in cooperation with discussing the matter with the Sufi orders in the governorates, as happened before during the spread of “bird and swine flu.” An official revealed to Okaz that a number of ministers, especially endowments, health and local development, are expected to discuss in cooperation with governors to cancel any manifestations of religious gatherings celebrations to protect the human soul.
Dr. Amna Naseer, a member of the House of Representatives and a professor at Al-Azhar University, appealed to the Sufi imams in the Egyptian governorates, to stop all forms of celebrating the birthdays that take place in the various mosques that have “shrines and shrines” completely stopping for the protection and safety of people, to prevent the spread of the Corona virus, saying in her statements, “The The Kingdom stopped Umrah for the sake of human safety,” noting that the human soul is dear to God, and its protection is one of the five necessities in Islam. And she continued that these birthdays are witnessing terrible crowding and human entanglement that can transmit diseases, stressing the Sufi leaders of the need to stay away from holding birthdays this year.
For his part, Abd al-Hadi al-Qasabi, the sheikh of the Sufi orders, gave strict instructions to all Sufi orders to respect any decision taken by the state to confront the Corona virus, indicating that if a decision is taken to cancel the gatherings, the Sufi orders will be at the head of those executing this decision. He said if we find that organizing birthdays will pose a danger to individuals, we will immediately boil the events without any government decisions.
It is noteworthy that the Sufi orders are preparing during the coming days for the “birth of Sayyida Zainab”, which is attended by thousands of devotees at the level of the Egyptian governorates, and which lasts about a week, in addition to the intense crowds during the closing night.
In a related context, the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments warned against calls spread on social media pages to perform collective prayers to request the removal of the Corona epidemic from the world. And the ministry demanded, in a statement issued by it “Tuesday,” not to follow any of these calls or to enable its owners to fulfill their calls, and not to carry out any work outside the tasks assigned to the imams, and not to allow anyone to use the mosque as he pleases without referring to the authority. Legitimacy and legality, and the Ministry of Education in Egypt rejected calls for leave in schools during those days.
Mohamed Hefny (Cairo)