The Al-Aqsa closed for Ramadan due to Coronavirus

Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound will be closed to Muslim worshippers throughout the holy fasting month of Ramadan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslim clerics at Islam's third-holiest site have announced on Thursday.

The Jordan-appointed council, Jerusalem Islamic Waqf that oversees Islamic sites on the sacred compound, called the decision "painful".

The council also said that the move was “in line legal fatwas and medical advice.”

However, the Muslim call to prayer will still take place five times daily at the site during Ramadan, and religious workers will still be allowed entry, the statement added.

The decision to ban Muslim prayer at the complex, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, extends a March 23 ban on Muslim prayer there.

Ramadan will start around April 23.

It typically draws tens of thousands of Muslims daily to the mosque and the adjoining Dome of the Rock for evening prayers known as Taraweeh.

Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven from this site.

(Source: Aljazeera)

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