RELIGION: Ramadan will end with Eid al-Fitr, the “feast of breaking the fast” which will take place on May 13th.
The month of Ramadan, which takes place once again in the particular context linked to the pandemic, will begin on Tuesday in France, the Grand Mosque of Paris said on Sunday. The head of the mosque Chems-eddine Hafiz confirmed this date during a meeting Sunday evening with several federations of mosques intended to fix the date, even if the latter had been announced ten days ago by the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM). The Ramadan will end with Eid al-Fitr, the “breaking festival of fasting” to be held on May 13th
While travelling to Rennes, where anti-Muslim tags were made on the walls of an Islamic cultural centre, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin asked “all the prefects” and the police to “strengthen vigilance in the vicinity of Muslim places of worship, particularly during this period of religious holidays, at the dawn of Ramadan ”.
Health context
Like last year, this month of fasting, praying and sharing is marked by the context of the health crisis. Due to the curfew and the closing of places of worship at 7 p.m., there is no “tarawih” – those night prayers specific to Ramadan – possible at the mosque. The religious authorities also strongly advise against grouping together beyond the home or between neighbours at the time of the “iftar”, the daily meal for breaking the fast, when it is usually a social, convivial or even festive component of this. month.
The CFCM as the Mosque of Paris have also warned the faithful who may wonder about the legality or not of the vaccination, that the latter was not considered as “nutritious”. Therefore, “the injection” of an anti-covid vaccine “does not invalidate the fast”. The Paris mosque has also printed a flyer for the faithful pleading for vaccination: “vaccination is an act of preserving life recommended in Islam”, we can read.
