As Ramadan began, social media platforms tackled several religious edicts by the terrorist Islamic State. Residents of areas controlled by IS in Syria and Iraq are forced to oblige to these edicts.
The beginning was when the group canceled Taraweeh prayers, claiming it’s a ‘heresy’. It warned that whoever pray it will be sentenced to lashes, according to Sky News Arabia.
Websites quoted Sheikh Saadoun al-Neiemy, known to be Imam of Nineveh province, on Thursday that IS’s religious police issued decision canceling Taraweeh prayers in all Mosul mosques in north of Iraq. Eyewitnesses said that the group held six Imams of mosques in different parts of Mosul for praying Taraweeh.
The group also conditioned that woman who wants to get out of home after Maghreb prayers should be accompanied by unmarriageable kin, in addition to other instructions for women including banning her from using cell phones in Ramadan.
There are also strange orders regarding Iftar according to IS. Whoever does not fast could be exposed to murder or humiliation, according to websites that follow IS edicts.
Reports indicated that IS religious police warned whoever does not fast intentionally with sanctions that could be dealing with them as ‘monkeys in cages’. Sanctions will include detention in cages for 15 days, according to Sputnik.
It also ordered owners of stores to close during the last ten days of Ramadan. It also ordered barbers not to cut men’s hair short in Ramadan. Youth are banned to make modern hairstyles or applying gel on their hair, Sky News added.
The group banned famous Ramadan events in Mosul.
Yazidi official accused IS of forcing the detainees of his sect to fast in Ramadan and that they lash whoever does not pray.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
