Press Release – The Guardian:
In Walsall, Mohammed Arif, interim chair of the Union of Muslim Organisations, said people were relieved to be able to pray inside mosques this year, although celebrations have been more muted than usual due to the rocket and airstrike attacks between Gaza and Israel.
“For Muslims, prayer is a collective thing, and particularly when we pray together in the mosque, we stand shoulder to shoulder. Having this distance of two metres, that feels strange, it feels odd. So we look forward to the day when we’re actually standing shoulder to shoulder with the next person,” he said.