After a meeting with religious scholars which he called ‘Ijmaa’, the president of Pakistan announced in an upbeat tone that various issues regarding offering of prayers during Ramadan have been agreed upon. Spelling out the tit bits like washing hands and doing ablution at home and not shaking hands etc, which even a child knows by now, the crux of the decision announced was that the govt had succumbed to the desire and dictation of the clerics per se.
It is unfortunate that there is no body in the govt to boldly tell the clerics the difference between offering prayers and congregating at the mosque. Whereas offering prayers is obligatory for a muslim, gathering at the mosque is not. The stress of the clerics is always more on coming to the mosques in any case instead of saying prayers with Allah’s gifted concessions in different situations like the present one.
The state of Pakistan which boasts of being a powerful nuclear state, has time and again proved itself humble in front of the religious conglomeration, which may be at each other’s throats most of the time but when their grip over the masses is challenged they become one, and formidable.
Source
It is unfortunate that there is no body in the govt to boldly tell the clerics the difference between offering prayers and congregating at the mosque. Whereas offering prayers is obligatory for a muslim, gathering at the mosque is not. The stress of the clerics is always more on coming to the mosques in any case instead of saying prayers with Allah’s gifted concessions in different situations like the present one.
The state of Pakistan which boasts of being a powerful nuclear state, has time and again proved itself humble in front of the religious conglomeration, which may be at each other’s throats most of the time but when their grip over the masses is challenged they become one, and formidable.
Source