SRINAGAR: Hurriyat Conference chairman and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the Jumat-ul-Vida, the last Friday prayers of Muslims fasting during the month of Ramadan, was disallowed at historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on Friday, for the seventh successive year.
The authorities had locked the gates of Kashmir's grand mosque from all sides to disallow the Jumat-ul-Vida prayers in the historic mosque.
Mirwaiz, who gives weekly Friday sermons in Jamia Masjid, was placed under house arrest at his Nageen residence.
The Auqaf management, handling the mosque's internal affairs, expressed anguish that for the seventh consecutive year Muslims have been denied opportunity to offer prayers at the Valley’s central congregational mosque.
“Such restrictions not only hurt the religious sentiments of the people but also amount to denying worshippers their fundamental right to pray in the house of Allah,” it said.
Mirwaiz said when tens of thousands of Muslims gather from towns and villages for prayers and supplication on Jumat-ul-Vida, the gates of historic Jamia Masjid were once again locked.
“For the seventh consecutive year, the government has denied Muslims the right to offer prayers at Jamia Masjid on this auspicious day,” he said.
“Just as Israel has forcibly shut gates of Masjid al-Aqsa during Ramadan, a similar painful reality is being witnessed here,” said Mirwaiz.
“Our hearts bleed,” Mirwaiz said, adding that it is deeply shameful that the houses of Allah are being locked against the faithful.
It now remains to be seen whether the night long prayers on Shab-e-Qadr (during the intervening night of 26/27 Ramadan) is allowed at the Jamia mosque.
The authorities did not allow the Shab-e-Qadr prayers in the grand mosque last year.