VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Muslims across the Middle East are bracing for a bleak month of Ramadan fasting as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic lingers.

Ramadan is a period for both self-reflection and socializing. Believers fast from dawn to dusk and then gather around a family or community meal each evening of Islam's holiest month, which begins later this week and ends with Eid al-Fitr festivities.

But this year, the fast-spreading novel coronavirus threatens to dampen Ramadan like never before, with millions locked down across the Middle East -- from Saudi Arabia and Lebanon to the battle zones of Libya, Iraq, and Yemen.

More dispiriting for many devout Muslims is the banning of congregational worship, including taraweeh nighttime prayers, in mosques across the region, with many closed in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.

Several countries' religious authorities, including Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, have ruled that prayers during Ramadan and Eid be performed at home.

"Our hearts are crying," said Ali Mulla, the muezzin who gives the call to prayer at Mecca's Grand Mosque.

"We are used to seeing the holy mosque crowded with people during the day, night, all the time... I feel pain deep inside."

In recent weeks, a stunning emptiness has enveloped the sacred Kaaba -- a large black cube structure draped in gold-embroidered cloth in the Grand Mosque towards which Muslims around the world pray.

The white-tiled area around the Kaaba is usually packed with tens of thousands of pilgrims.

Ramadan is considered an auspicious period to perform the year-round Umrah pilgrimage, which Saudi authorities suspended last month.

It is likely the larger hajj pilgrimage, set for the end of July, will also be canceled for the first time in modern history after Saudi Arabia urged Muslims to temporarily defer preparations. (AFP)