Srinagar, Mar 13 (KNS) - Kashmir's chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday expressed grief and anguish over the locking of the historic Jama Masjid in Srinagar on the last Friday of Ramzan, drawing a parallel with the closure of Masjid al-Aqsa.
In a post on X, Mirwaiz said that for the seventh consecutive year, authorities have denied permission to Muslims to offer prayers at the downtown mosque, which traditionally witnesses the congregation of tens of thousands of faithful from towns and villages on Jumat-ul-Vida.
"Shame on those who lock the houses of Allah against the faithful," he added in his post on the microblogging site .
The chief cleric's remarks come a day after the Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid had expressed hope that authorities would allow congregational prayers at the historic mosque after nearly seven years . (KNS)