Faithful urged to register for etikaf at Madinah mosque

The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques has urged Muslim faithful intending to perform etikaf (spiritual retreat) inside the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah to register their names through its website.
“The presidency has set out certain conditions for the etikaf as the applicants should preserve the mosque’s cleanliness, should not cause problems to other worshippers and end etikaf soon after Isha prayer on the night of Eid Al-Fitr,” said Abdul Wahid Al-Hattab, its spokesman in Madinah.
Speaking about other conditions, he said the worshippers should carry only a bed sheet and a pillow and should use only the space allocated for them in the mosque’s northern side, should not keep their clothes and other personal belongings on shelves used for keeping the Qur’an and should not sleep inside the mosque during qiyamullail prayers.
Al-Hattab said his organization has made necessary preparations to receive a large number of worshippers and visitors during Ramadan. The mosque has 100 gates including eight new gates, two of them are named after Bukhari and Muslim.
“All these doors are kept open during Ramadan and 400 employees have been appointed to guard them,” he said, adding that the guards would not allow anybody to take anything that would affect the mosque’s cleanliness and sacredness.