BURAIDAH: For the second consecutive year, seekers of the Night of Power during the last 10 days of Ramadan blocked the road leading to the main hospital in Buraidah with women worshippers praying in the middle of the road outside the popular Al-Zuwayyid Mosque in the vicinity. The road was closed for about two hours Friday night.
This year witnessed the closure of King Khaled Road as well as the intersection near the Movenpick Hotel near King Fahd Specialist Hospital. Police found it necessary to block the road as women in prayer took to the street after the mosque became full. Prayer carpets were put in the middle of the road to accommodate the large crowd.
“You cannot force a woman away from attending the prayers,” said one police officer who supervised the flow of traffic around the mosque.
Women worshippers were the ones who blocked the main access to the hospital while their male counterparts closed another small road to the north of the mosque.
The small mosque was full of worshippers even before the start of Isha prayers. “So people spread carpets in the three asphalted roads surrounding the mosque,” said one worshipper.
When asked about the closure of the road, one police official declined to comment saying that it is the responsibility of the Traffic Department. “These people are attending the khatma (completing recital of the whole Qur’an),” said the police officer, who didn’t want his name published.
“It is very difficult to evaluate the situation religiously,” said one worshipper who left his mosque in his district to come to pray at Al-Zuwayyid Mosque. “The crowd is here to pray. You cannot say it is irreligious to pray.”
“There is no religious ruling that prevents me from attending prayer at this mosque,” said another worshipper.
When asked what attracts him to come here and leave the mosque of his district, he said that it is the leader of the prayer who attracts me. “I just love the imam. He weeps when he recites the Qur’an. It makes me think of the meaning of the various verses he recites.”
