CAIRO: More than 11,000 mosques will be open for tahajjud prayer, and more than 6,000 for itikaf during the holy month of Ramadan in Egypt. Minister of Endowments Muhammad Mukhtar Jumaa said the mosques would be open for all rituals throughout the holy month, including taraweeh and tahajjud prayers. Tahajjud, also known as the “night prayer,” is a voluntary prayer and not one of the five obligatory prayers required of Muslims. Itikaf is an Islamic practice of a period of staying in a mosque for a certain number of days during Ramadan, devoting oneself to worship and staying away from worldly affairs. Coronavirus restrictions prevented itikaf last year. The ministry is working with the Islamic Research Academy to launch Ramadan lessons in a thousand mosques with joint work between imams and preachers. Lessons will be held twice a week throughout the month. A cleaning campaign has also been launched by the ministry to prepare mosques for Ramadan. Hisham Abdel Aziz Ali, a ministry official, led the campaign with the cleaning of Cairo’s Sayyidah Nafisa Mosque. Abdel Aziz said: “Mosques must be the epitome of cleanliness and beauty, and maintaining their cleanliness and purification is the path of Prophet Muhammad’s companions and followers. “The endowments minister held an early meeting to formulate a plan for Ramadan. It was decided that there would be taraweeh prayers in all those mosques where Friday prayers are held.” There will be educational lessons after taraweeh, he said, in addition to the evening lesson after the prayer. These are organized by the imam of the mosque.