A MOSQUE is preparing to reopen amid conflicting advice and one of the most challenging periods in its history.

Alquds Mosque in Dyke Road, Brighton, aims to open on June 15 with social distancing measures in place.

But it has been caught up in a dilemma since the Government announced that places of worship can open for private prayer from next week.

In Islam, communal worship is crucial and the chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board has warned mosques should not open until it is safe to hold congregational prayers.

Meanwhile the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain has called for clarity from the Government on how the guidance can be implemented.

Alquds Mosque is having to balance the need for prayer with the health of its worshippers.

Group Friday prayers will be cancelled and organisers are working out how worshippers will be able to stand in a line, two metres apart, while the imam makes the shift from conducting prayers via Instagram video-link, as he has done amid the lockdown, to leading them in person.

“It’s an emotional issue,” said Asim Takriti, chairman of Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre.

“It’s sad to see the mosque empty – it just doesn’t feel normal.

“People come to the mosque with the idea of getting together, so it’s upsetting to see it like this.

“We’ve been told you can worship in private but that’s very hard for us.

“Other mosques are saying they don’t want to open and I understand.

“Friday prayers aren’t going to happen. It would be impossible.

“But we think we will be able to carry out the five daily prayers if we practise social distancing.

“It’s hard. People will have to line up like in the supermarket.

“We will switch off the air conditioning and we are taking other things into consideration for a limited opening that falls in line with the new guidelines.”

Mr Takriti said it had been “exceptionally hard” for worshippers to go without the mosque during Ramadan and said the community had lost out as a result.

“The mosque is a centre for Islam and we meet up regularly.

“Families come here with children, there are Arabic classes, Quaranic classes have had to stop and it’s been really difficult for people to be without it. They’re not used to it.

“Ramadan is a month about charity and it’s been hard on those who would usually benefit from the community coming together to give donations.

“Others suffer because of the closure too.”

Volunteers from the mosque have managed to keep up the deliveries of food they have been making to key workers at the city’s Royal Sussex County Hospital during Ramadan.

Places of worship come under step three of the Government’s road map to lift restrictions, and are not due to fully reopen until at least July 4.

Ministers had been warned that worshippers felt “disappointment and hurt” at not being able to visit places of worship, despite some shops being reopened.