SINGAPORE - Weekly bookings for Friday prayers at mosques resumed on Friday (Nov 12) after Covid-19 restrictions had limited prayer slots to once every three weeks for each congregant for more than a year.
The restrictions, to limit the number of congregants who could pray together at any one time, had been implemented to allow more congregants to attend prayers by taking turns.
The easing of this safety measure allows Muslims to attend Friday prayers every week if they manage to secure slots, which can be booked up to two weeks ahead.
Mr Junaidi Ali, 47, has been going to the Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau Mosque for the past 21 years for prayers.
In the past year, he could attend Friday prayer sessions only once every three weeks with his 14-year-old son and father-in-law.
He was in high spirits at the prospect of attending weekly Friday prayers at the mosque.
"I'm very happy about this. It gives us more opportunity to carry out our prayers together as a community," he said.
Some mosques that used to facilitate three sessions of prayers with three zones each will now see two sessions of four zones each, allowing more congregants per session.
More space will also be available for congregants soon, with the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) evaluating if capacity caps for prayer zones in mosques, currently 50 congregants per prayer session, can be raised. Bigger mosques may see the capacity of zones doubled to 100 people.
Muis chief executive Kadir Maideen said: "Muis is working with the mosques to ensure that the necessary changes can be implemented, and to ease the process of our community coming to the mosques."
"We also need to ensure the well-being of our mosques' front-liners, who will be adapting to accommodate more congregants. We seek the community's understanding and cooperation as we continue to implement changes to mosques' operations," he added, after Friday prayers at Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau Mosque.
Mr Kadir also presented the mosque with a cheque for $15,613, representing community donations made via OurMasjid.SG towards the upkeep of mosques and their operations.
