French Muslim Council Issues Guidelines for Prayer During Coronavirus Outbreak

After the announcement of the suspension of Friday and daily collective prayers in mosques, "the CFCM calls on imams to redouble their efforts to accompany the faithful in their spiritual lives and respond to their questions in these difficult times. Particular attention must be paid to families affected by the loss of a loved one," the organization said in a statement.

The CFCM believes that regularly making audio or video recordings and disseminating them via social networks would greatly help the faithful to overcome the constraint of confinement, necessary for the protection of all. In this sense, the CFCM calls on mosque leaders to redirect the calls and requests from the faithful received by their mosques to one or more reference imams.

Given the impossibility of celebrating the Friday prayer, the faithful are called to perform the Dhuhr prayer (4 rakaates) at home, urges the Muslim organization. On the other hand, initiatives calling on the faithful to follow live, via social networks, a "sermon" and a "prayer" led by an imam in a mosque with the presence of two or three faithful, are to be taken with great caution, stresses the CFCM.

Finally, the CFCM calls on Muslims in France to express their solidarity with the most destitute and to take initiatives in this direction, submitting them beforehand to the competent authorities for advice and validation. Similarly, the association calls on Muslims in France to multiply prayers and invocations so that the Most Merciful may protect fellow citizens and France and spare all of humanity the suffering caused by this pandemic.