Dear Editor,
As Muslims in Guyana anxiously await the start of the holy month of Ramadan which should be either the 13 or 14 of April 2021, we were greeted with some obnoxious and horrible news by the Government National COVID-19 Task Force that decreed that no feeding or eating should take place at mosques after Muslims break their fast after fasting for 14 hours every day with no food or water.
Editor, mind you as per the protocol, every masjid is allowed 40 per cent of its capacity for people to pray their five daily prayers and we have to practice social distancing, sanitise and wear a mask, yet although we adhere to all the protocols we cannot eat at the masjid after we break our fast. How ridiculous and senseless!!!
Editor, let me give you an example: Our masjid “Dar-Ul- Takwah, after the decree by the COVID-19 Task Force, made representation to the Regional Health Officer of Region Six. We told her that restaurants, bars and hotels, which are also allowed 40 per cent of their capacity, are given permission for people to eat and drink at these establishments, so why are Muslims being discriminated against?
We were told that masjids are places of worship, but you cannot eat there. How senseless. God help this country.
And Editor, you know what is hurtful, during Ramadan many poor Muslims who keep the fast look forward to eat at the masjid, because Muslims who afford feed every day for the entire month.
How can this Government and its COVID-19 Task Force be so callous and uncaring? And finally, what is the CIOG and the GIT doing in all of this. They are supposed to be representing the interest of Muslims in this country, but sad to say they have failed miserably.
Yours faithfully,
Imtiaz Baccus
