1,500 to observe Aitkaf at Faisal Mosque

Around 1,500 muslims in Rawalpindi and Islamabad will sit for aitkaf at Faisal Mosque starting from the 20th of Ramazan (August 21, Sunday).
The mosque administration has selected 1,500 applicants, including some of its staff, out of 2,000 aspirants, for the ten-day solitary spiritual retreat held in the last ten days of Ramazan. “All arrangements have been finalised for sitting for aitkaf at the Mosque,” said Aitkaf Section Incharge Tahir Siddique on Thursday. Last year around 1,000 worshipers were selected to sit aitkaf at Faisal Mosque out of 1,500 applicants.
He said lectures from religious scholars had been specially arranged for the motakafeen (aitkaf observers) to educate them about fiqhai problems and other religious issues. “Religious scholars would deliver six lectures on different issues on a daily basis and that programme will continue until the Shawal moon is sighted,” he said. To a question about the criteria of selection, he said applicants who had been observing aitkaf for the last several years were denied this year.