A Ramadan like no other: Images from around the world

Sprawling banquets that convened crowds of relatives have shrunk to modest meals for immediate family. Imams who led prayers in packed mosques have been addressing the faithful over Zoom. And stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines have sapped the nighttime jubilance of cities with large Muslim populations, from Cairo to Jakarta, Indonesia, to Dearborn, Michigan.

>> Ben HubbardThe New York Times
Published : 26 April 2020, 08:07 AM
Updated : 26 April 2020, 12:05 PM

For the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan is a social and spiritual high point, a time to gather with friends and family, and to focus on fasting, prayer and scripture.

But the coronavirus pandemic is transforming this Ramadan across the world, clearing out mosques, canceling communal prayers and forcing families to replace physical gatherings with virtual meet-ups.

Ramadan, which most Muslims began observing on Friday or Saturday, is the month when Muslims believe God revealed the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad. Fasting from dawn to dusk for those who are able during this month is one of the five pillars of Islam.

But the coronavirus has added danger to many of the ways that Muslims have observed Ramadan for generations, forcing modifications.

Some mosques, where men and women normally pray shoulder to shoulder and crowds spill into the streets, have made efforts to space out the faithful to prevent contagion. Others, from Paris to New York to Mecca, toward which all Muslims pray, have shut their doors altogether.

The rigors of fasting have birthed a range of social customs. Families stay up all night or wake up before sunrise to eat. Breaking the fast and the nighttime meals that follow are opportunities to gather with relatives, entertain guests and, for the wealthy, give charity by offering drop-in meals at street banquets for the poor.

But for many, this will be a Ramadan like no other, observed more at home than at the mosque, more online than in person, and amid greater uncertainty about the future.

Housemates break their fast together on the first day of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 24, 2020. (Alexandra Radu/The New York Times)

A staff member of Jama Masjid walks through the mosque courtyard in New Delhi on the eve of Ramadan, April 24, 2020. (Rebecca Conway/The New York Times)

An imam and his assistants perform Tarawih prayer at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 24, 2020. Islam’s most sacred sites were largely deserted on Friday, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, and strict measures to contain the coronavirus have jarred many Muslims, spurring some to resist in ways that could spread it. (Alexandra Radu/The New York Times)

A man prays on a rooftop during Ramadan afternoon prayers in Jerusalem, April 24, 2020. (Dan Balilty/The New York Times)

Cafe workers load fresh meals on a delivery truck to distribute to the poor on the first day of Ramadan in Cairo, April 24, 2020. (Sima Diab/The New York Times)

A man prays on the bank of Dal Lake during Ramadan in Srinagar, India, where mosques are closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, April 24, 2020. (Ahmer Khan/The New York Times)

People buy food for their Iftar meal on the first evening of Ramadan despite social distancing restrictions set by the government in Yangon, Myanmar, April 25, 2020. (Minzayar Oo/The New York Times)

Men relax on prayer mats during Ramadan in Lagos, Nigeria, where mosques are closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, April 24, 2020. (Yagazie Emezi/The New York Times)

People distribute food on the street to prepare for iftar on the first day of Ramadan during the coronavirus pandemic in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, April 24, 2020. (Ulet Ifansasti/The New York Times)

Dr Saleh Kholaki, the chairman of the religious committee at the Islamic Center of Southern California, leads members of the Mosque’s community in prayer via online live-streaming during Ramadan, at his home in La Crescenta, Calif. April 23, 2020. (Bryan Denton/The New York Times)

People descend a hill in Kabul, Afghanistan on the first day of Ramadan, April 24, 2020. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)

 

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