Osun Muslims urged to celebrate new Hijrah year without public gathering

The Osun State Muslims Community, (OSMC) on Monday cautioned adherents of the Islamic faith to avoid public gatherings during the celebration of the new Hijrah year 1442.A.H to prevent further spread of the coronavirus disease.

The OSMC president, Alhaji Mustafa Adeleke Olawuyi, addressing journalists on the new Islamic year, advised Muslims to take COVID-19 serious and abide by government’s preventive guidelines on the pandemic.

Frowning that some people were still arguing that COVID-19 was a ruse, Olawuyi asserted the pandemic was real and appealed to Muslims in the state to ensure they wear the face mask always, use hand sanitizer and maintain personal hygiene and social distance as much as possible.

He disclosed that the OSMC would mark the new Islamic year with the theme, ‘Coronavirus Pandemic in the World: Islamic View’, and stressed there would be no public gathering at the City Stadium, Osogbo, for the event this year, as done in the previous ones.

Olawuyi added that the grand finale of the annual Qur’an competition would hold at the OSMC Secretariat, with special prayers to be offered in all central mosques across the state as part of the first Jum’at prayer in the new Islamic year.

The OSMC president commended the Osun State governor, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, for his “pragmatic” leadership and prayed Allah to bless him with wisdom and the wherewithal to succeed in taking the state to greater heights.