ERBIL: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have banned Mosul residents from performing Eid-ul-Fitr prayers, local media reported on Friday.
A Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official Ismat Rajab for Mosul who now lives in the Kurdistan region, told Rudaw that the group has warned residents to avoid prayers for Eid ul Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan in about a week.
He said ISIS was claiming that the Eid prayer is not “originally an Islamic practice” and was not performed in Prophet Mohammad’s time.
Since the banned group taken over Mosul last year, ISIS have been imposing new rules and regulations, backed by strict punishments that include the threat of death for offenders.
Eid al-Fitr, also called the Feast of Breaking the Fast, is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.
Although a religious practice, the prayer preformed on the first day after Ramadan also is a cultural event.
