Statement from the Memphis Muslim Community
Response to Reopening Guidelines
Assalamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatu Allahi Wa Barakatuhu
On Thursday, the Memphis Mayor and Shelby County Health Department announced their plans to begin re-opening Shelby County and all six of the county’s suburban municipalities starting Monday, May 4
th
(
Read more here)
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The Governor of Tennessee followed this up with his recommendation for places of worship and strongly encouraged they continue online and alternative worship options followed with planning to determine the time and process to begin in person gatherings again. (
Read more here).
The Memphis area masjid and religious leadership, from the start and even before the government issued a stay at home order, has been at the forefront of this situation and met with a panel of infectious and respiratory disease experts that led to the decision to close all of our community centers and masjids back in March.
This past weekend, we again met with our local masjid and religious leadership and were presented with up-to-date new information from the same expert physician panel.
The expert panel strongly recommended we remain closed and continue the suspension of all prayers, programs, and activities at all Memphis Area Masjids until further notice.
Our priority remains the health and safety of our community. While we understand the city and state efforts to reopen, we will not immediately change the current status in our masjids at this moment.
We are working towards our own phased return that will follow the advice of our expert advisors in addition to the guidelines from our government and health officials.
InshAllah, we plan to provide another update to the community within the next few weeks during this month of Ramadan on our planning process and procedure for eventually returning to the masjid.
In the meantime, community members are encouraged to continue to practice social distancing in all activities. Please reach out to your masjid leadership should you have any questions.
All Islamic Centers in the Memphis area have supported this position:
Masjid Al-Mu'minun
Masjid Al-Muslimeen
Masjid Al-Noor
Masjid Ar-Rahman
Masjid As-Salam
Masjid At Taqwa
Memphis Islamic Center
Midtown Mosque
المساجد في ميمفس ستبقى مغلقة للصلوات الخمس وصلاة التراويح والجمعة حتى اشعار اخر
Sincerely,
Islamic Association of Greater Memphis
Masjid Al-Noor & Ar-Rahman
