Al-Aqsa preacher's voice echoes across Jerusalem devoid of Ramadan crowds

An imam standing atop an 18-foot pulpit in a near-empty Al-Aqsa Mosque delivered the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in Jerusalem, his voice echoing across an empty and windswept plateau almost devoid of worshippers. In normal years during Ramadan Friday prayers Muslim worshippers gather by the tens of thousands on the tree-lined hilltop plateau that lies at the heart of Jerusalem's Old City and is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount. In March, Muslim religious authorities closed the gates to worshippers due to the coronavirus epidemic, and this has been extended throughout Ramadan.

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