Hyderabad: The special Taraweeh prayers in Ramzan, which would have ideally been stopped due to the night curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m., will now continue as the government and police department have allowed the namaz to continue till 10 p.m. The decision was taken after the authorities received representations from different quarters for a concession of half an hour to one hour.
According to reliable sources, the police relaxed curfew time from 9 to 10 p.m. to allow the Taraweeh prayers in the mosques. But no instructions have been issued in this regard. The police have decided to extend this unofficial relaxation in the curfew timings to enable local residents to conclude their prayers by 10 p.m. It is up to the mosque committees to amend the ‘Isha’ namazs timing to conclude the Taraweeh by 10 p.m.
In the historic 17th century Makkah Masjid, the Isha prayer will begin at 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. to let Hafiz and Qari Mohammed Rizwn Qureshi to conclude the daily three chapters daily by 10 p.m. This change in timing is being implemented from Tuesday. Similarly, many mosques amended their Isha timings to conclude Taraweeh prayers by 10 pm.
According to a source, the higher police officials have informed all the police stations about the unofficial relaxation of curfew timings with regard to mosques. However, the police will have all the business establishments, shops and restaurants closed by 9 p.m. and action will be taken against those loitering on roads aimlessly.
Quite a few mosques have arranged the recitation of 5 to 6 chapters of the Quran daily ,and thus they have concluded the Taraweeh namaz by completing the whole Quran within a week. In view of the unofficial relaxation in curfew timings, it is expected that the mosques will continue with Taraweeh prayers. At the onset of holy month of Ramzan, people were going out for dinner, as is the tradition in Ramzan, to restaurants, especially for Haleem.
Mosques are taking care to maintain social distancing during the prayers. No one is being allowed to enter mosques without face mask and worshippers are told to bring their own prayer mats.