By Shakir Reshamwala

KUWAIT: Nightly prayers were held at the Grand Mosque for the first time in three years early Tuesday after closures due to the COVID pandemic and maintenance work.

Security personnel and volunteers maintained order as worshippers streamed into the mosque for the qiyam ul layl prayers, held in the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan.

The first four rakats of tahajjud prayers were led by Sheikh Omar Al-Damkhi, while the remaining four rakats were led by Sheikh Khaled Al-Juhaym.

“The Grand Mosque has readied fully staffed clinics, an outdoor tent and a designated place for women, in addition to other facilities in cooperation with various ministries and institutions to serve worshippers.

All parking lots of the Public Utilities Company are open free of charge for worshippers of the Grand Mosque after midnight,” Director of the Grand Mosque Ali Shaddad said on Monday.

“Buses have also been provided to transport worshippers from parking lots to the main gate of the mosque. Special parking spaces have been allocated for the disabled at the Kuwait stock exchange and the adjacent building, in addition to karts provided for transporting the disabled and the elderly,” Shaddad added. He called on citizens and residents to cooperate with the organizing authorities and not to pray in undesignated places.