Across the Middle East, the new coronavirus is changing ancient patterns of worship
, the Muslim call to prayer, has been a changeless feature of life in the Arab world. In war or peace, prosperity or famine, the same rhythmic chant echoes across cities and towns five times each day. Midway through comes an exhortation to worship. But on March 13th a muezzin in Kuwait, his voice plainly cracking with emotion, made a small tweak. Instead of “” . Words that seemed immutable were no longer such.
Other countries are following suit. Egypt, the most populous Arab country, first capped Friday sermons at 15 minutes. Then al-Azhar, the Sunni world’s most prestigious scholarly centre, decreed that they could be halted altogether to stop the virus from spreading. The United Arab Emirates stopped them on March 18th. Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque has been closed indefinitely, though worshippers still gather on the large esplanade outside.
Younger Saudis could not recall ever seeing it so empty; older ones drew a parallel with 1979, when the mosque was seized by extremists and besieged for two weeks. The government has not made any decision about the annualpilgrimage, which should begin in late July. Cancelling it would be a blow both spiritual and financial: it attracts millions of people and contributes more than $10bn to the Saudi economy. Pilgrimages are the kingdom’s largest source of revenue after oil.
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