- JEDDAH: The Ministry of Religious Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance has asked all the mosques which might be used for Etikaf (non-compulsory seclusion for worship that some perform in the last 10 days of Ramadan) to register the names of worshippers, obtain copies of their identity cards and prepare a registry containing full information about them.
- It also said foreigners should have written approvals from their sponsors.
Through its website, the ministry said on Thursday that the new rules and regulations were meant to organize Etikaf in mosques during the last 10 days of Ramadan and to keep it with its Shariah objectives. The ministry said the imam of the mosque should know all the worshippers secluding themselves for worship in his mosque. The ministry decided that 6,000 out of the approximately 30,000 mosques in the Kingdom are suitable for Etikaf.
Meanwhile the Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques has warned worshippers wishing to do Etikaf in the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah or the Grand Mosque in Makkah not to stake out areas inside either of the Haram areas due to the crowding of pilgrims in the last 10 days of Ramadan.