Ramadan 2022: UAE worshippers attend Ramadan’s first morning prayers

Worshippers at fajr prayers on the first day of Ramadan at Al Khayle Mosque, Khalifa City in Abu Dhabi. All photos: Victor Besa / The National

Worshippers are observing the most regular holy month since 2019 because of easing Covid-19 rules.

An Al Khayle Mosque worshipper with misbaha prayer beads.

Guidelines including the wearing of masks in mosques remain.

Prayer times have returned to normal after being affected for two years by the pandemic.

Taraweeh prayers — night prayers performed during Ramadan — will be held in mosques again during this holy month.

During the last 10 nights of Ramadan, tahajjud prayers will also be held from midnight onwards.

A boy reads the Quran during the fajr prayer on the first day of Ramadan at Al Khayle Mosque, Khalifa City.

Worshippers at prayer.

A worshipper kneels in prayer.

A large attendance at the mosque.

Al Khayle Mosque's prayer hall.

Worshippers leave Al Khayle Mosque in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, after the first fajr prayers of Ramadan.

Worshippers in the UAE attended the first morning prayers of Ramadan.

Authorities had relaxed Covid-19 rules for worshippers in time for the start of the holy month.

The fajr morning prayer marks the beginning of the obligatory daily fasting, or sawm.

For the first time since 2020, prayer times and women's prayer halls in mosques have returned to normal.

More worshippers are attending mosques after they were allowed to pray in a straight line rather than in a zig-zag arrangement.

Daily mosque lessons and lectures have resumed and the taraweeh night prayers of Ramadan will be held in mosques for the first time in two years.

Copies of the Quran are once again provided in mosques after they are sterilised.

Masks remain mandatory indoors and worshippers must maintain a physical distance of at least one metre.

This will be the first time in two years that worshippers can enjoy a regular Ramadan, with iftar tents also allowed.

It comes as the UAE cautiously emerges from the pandemic with Covid-19 cases declining.