PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has urged people to follow guidelines of medical experts and authorities while offering prayers to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“When doctors recommend that people should take maximum precautionary measures and not go near affected people then people are bound to abide by these guidelines and follow instructions of the district administration in this regard,” he said while talking to Dawn from his residence in Dera Ismail Khan on Friday.

The JUI-F leader has restricted movement to his home since cases of Covid-19 surfaced in the country.

A source said that the Maulana has been with his family while his party has suspended activities till April 5. He said the JUI-F chief offered Friday prayers along with his family members at the mosque inside his residential compound.

Maulana Fazl said that scholars representing all schools of thought had already given their unanimous opinion on this issue and recommended that only muezzin, prayer leader and members of mosques’ administration should offer prayers in congregation.

He was of the opinion that if congregational prayers at mosques could result in spreading the virus, then people should not visit mosques and instead offer prayers at home.

He said that the coronavirus had engulfed the whole world and the disease had been declared as a pandemic. “The pandemic has forced every human being to seek blessings of God,” he said, adding that “our religion gives certain relaxations during extraordinary circumstances”. He said that people should not ignore guidelines of health experts and avoid unnecessary movements and activities.

“In the prevailing situation people can offer congregational prayers along with family members at their homes,” he said, adding that he fully endorsed decree of religious scholars in order to contain the disease.