Nottingham Muslims organise prayers from home for NHS workers before weekly clap

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community – which has a chapter based in Nottingham at the Baitul Hafeez Mosque in Sneinton – is encouraging its followers to take a moment to pause this Thursday to pray for and show their gratitude to the NHS, fire service, police, and other key workers on the frontline against Covid-19.

The Muslims hope others will join them at 7pm by ‘putting their hands together’ to pray and share messages of support on social media using the hashtag #PrayForHeroes.

As with other places of worship, the mosque in Sneinton is now closed during the lockdown so a poster has been put on display at its entrance with a message thanking NHS staff for their efforts during the pandemic.

Dr Irfan Malik, vice-president of the Nottingham chapter of Ahmadiyya Muslims, said: “Nottingham’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community will be supporting the #PrayForHeroes Twitter campaign on Thursday evening at 7pm.

“This will give us an opportunity to thank and pray for all the frontline key workers who have done so much for the community during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The national social media campaign is being organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA).

“At our Baitul Hafeez Mosque entrance gate, in Sneinton we have a special poster designed to thank all the NHS and all key workers during this difficult and challenging time.

“Following Government guidelines the Mosque is closed, but we wished to display this poster to fully support all the key workers.”

From April 3, Muslims in Nottingham who cannot go to closed mosques can also listen to their weekly Friday prayers on BBC Radio Nottingham at 5:50AM, as well as on 13 other local radio stations across the UK.

The prayers are led by a different Imam every week.

A Christian service is being broadcast each Sunday at 8am on all 39 BBC local radio stations.

Imam Abdul Quddus Arif, National AMYA President said: ‘‘In these tough times, many may feel insecure and afraid, but our message to fellow Brits is one of solidarity, unity and security; our message is that we are there for you and if you need us, you need only call and we will respond.

‘‘As Muslims, love for our nation is a part of our faith and we also believe that being grateful is a duty.’’