2020 Easter Message from the Mufti of Cyprus
On the occasion of Easter, I extend my heartfelt sincerest greetings and well wishes to all Christians!
We congratulate the Christian Religious Leaders of Cyprus and their respective communities as well as all Christians around the world in the spirit of the culture of coexistence and peace, deep rooted in our religious teachings.
We continue to uphold our mutual commitment to religious freedom and reiterate our conviction that everyone should freely be able to practice his/her religion wherever they are.
Easter as well as the upcoming Holy Month of Ramadan this year will be celebrated with particular challenges. As believers we should communicate and practice responsibility, compassion and most important of all, hope. Following our religious obligation, we are called to be merciful and compassionate as if we are one; to do good, to share and to serve each other irrespective of nationality, race and faith.
We understand the distress of Christians in seeing their Churches closed during their Holy Week, especially on the most important of Christian feasts. We, Muslims know first hand how important congregational worship is and together with all believers we long for the comfort and power a place of worship offers to our faithful. In this regard, we share the distress felt by Christians.
We all take comfort in knowing that the physical space of a place of worship cannot limit our celebrations and venerations. There is no obstacle between the worshipper and Allah. It is quoted in Holy Quran … “and who so saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind”…
By staying away from one another, by keeping each other safe during this pandemic we are following the full commandment of loving and caring for each other and our neighbours.
We continue to pray fervently each one of us alone with the hope that we will be together soon in our respective places of worship.
During this crisis, it is our religious obligation to pray for and help the most vulnerable among us and to serve humanity without any discrimination, upholding the spirit of sacrifice, service and generosity for all, especially homeless people and stray animals without food and shelter.
We stand in prayer with everyone, strengthened in our faith that we will overcome this crisis and life will return to normal for all as soon as possible and once again we will be able to gather in our places of worship freely and greet one another in the name of Allah, the most Gracious and the Most Merciful.
May Your Feast Be Blessed!
Professor Dr Talip Atalay
Mufti of Cyprus
