606 mosques agree to uniform prayer, Azaan timing: Yousaf

Minister says the system will be expanded to 50 union councils of Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Muhammad Yousaf on Wednesday said 606 out of total 615 mosques of the federal capital have agreed to implement uniform prayer and Azaan timings.

Chairing a meeting of Nizam-e-Salat Committee, he said the consensus of Ulema from all schools of thought on uniform prayer and Azaan timings in their mosques was a great achievement of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

He said the Nizam-e-Salat would be expanded to 50 union councils of the federal capital.



Prayers break should be made mandatory at all educational institutions, banks and government offices on a regular basis. Meanwhile all picnic areas, hotels should be officially shut down during the time of Friday prayers.

These suggestions were given at a high level meeting chaired by the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony held on Wednesday to discuss issues, progress made regarding implementation of Nizam-e-Salat.

The meeting was attended by the members of Nizam-e-Salat comprised of religious scholars belonging to all schools of thought, trader unions along with the officials of Ministry of Interior, Islamabad local administration, Auqaf department, representatives of civil societies, chairman UCs among others.

On the occasion the committee members suggested that Nizam-e-Salat should also be implemented in other cities of the country like it has been implemented in Islamabad, under which all the religious sects will pray at the same time and all the mosques call out the Azan simultaneously.



Back in 2015, the Federal government decided in principle to introduce Nizam-e-Salat with unified timings in Islamabad however its mode of implementation had yet to be decided.

Meanwhile, media should play a positive role in creating awareness among the masses about  the importance of Nizam e Salat and all the TV channels should also air Azan according to the timings set by the committee.

They also suggested that all the hotels, recreational spots should be officially closed during Friday prayers and the government should declare Friday as public holiday in Pakistan so that more and more Muslims could offer Friday prayers with ease and comfort.