Kashmir: Congregational prayers were not allowed at the historic Jama Masjid on Jumu’atul-Wida, the final Friday of Ramadan, prompting criticism from local religious leaders and residents, according to a report by Maktoob Media.
Authorities placed Hurriyat chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric Umar Farooq under house arrest, preventing him from delivering the traditional sermon at the mosque. The Mirwaiz took to social media to express distress over the restrictions, sharing photographs showing the mosque’s gates locked. He compared the situation to restrictions imposed at Masjid al-Aqsa. “On the last Friday of holy Ramzan, when tens of thousands gather from towns and villages for prayers and supplication at the historic Jama Masjid Srinagar, its gates have once again been locked from all sides… As Israel has forcibly shut the gates of Masjid al-Aqsa during Ramzan, similar painful reality is witnessed here,” he wrote on X.
According to reports, congregational prayers have now been prevented for the seventh consecutive year at the Srinagar mosque on Jumu’atul-Wida. Security was tightened across Srinagar ahead of the occasion, which usually draws large crowds to central mosques for prayers and community gatherings. A Srinagar resident told Maktoob that it was unfortunate, but people had become accustomed to such a kind of tyranny.
Jumu’atul-Wida is considered the holiest Friday of the Islamic calendar and is also observed as Yaum-al-Quds in solidarity with Palestine.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir’s Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam had announced that Jumu’atul-Wida would fall on March 13 this year, as the following Friday may coincide with Eid-ul-Fitr.