Forgoing Friday Prayers for Safety

For Muslims living in Indonesia, the cancellation of Friday prayers is something very rare and almost unimaginable, except during the pandemic a few years ago. However, for migrant Muslims studying or working in Taiwan, such a situation can occur due to extreme natural factors such as the onslaught of a typhoon. One memorable moment occurred on Friday, 10 July 2026, when the management of Taipei Grand Mosque was forced to make the difficult decision to cancel Friday prayers due to the threat of Typhoon Bavi. When the city government declared a disaster alert status and suspended public activities for the sake of safety, activities at the oldest and largest mosque in Taiwan had to be temporarily halted. This incident is not merely about the cancellation of a religious ritual, but rather an interesting case study on how a religious institution adapts to civil safety laws in a developed country, and how it manages emergency communications to a highly diverse congregation. Under normal conditions, Taipei Grand Mosque is the centre of gravity for Muslims in northern Taiwan. On an ordinary Friday, the main area of the mosque and its outer courtyard are always packed with an overflow of worshippers coming from all corners of the city. This phenomenon captures the high concentration of the Muslim community within a minority society. Even when a national holiday in Taiwan happens to fall on a Friday, the mosque management faces an extraordinary capacity challenge. On such holidays, the number of worshippers multiplies many times over because migrant workers and students finally have free time to gather. To work around the physical space limitations, the mosque management usually implements a clever capacity management strategy by dividing the service into two consecutive Friday prayer sessions. This dual session ensures that all worshippers who come are served in an orderly and comfortable manner. However, all the hustle and bustle and long queues suddenly fell silent on Friday, 10 July. This stark contrast shows how a usually very crowded activity centre had to come to a complete halt to comply with disaster safety protocols. One of the biggest challenges for the Taipei Grand Mosque management in facing such an emergency situation is how to convey information quickly to a highly diverse public. The mosque’s congregation is not homogeneous; it consists of local Taiwanese Mandarin speakers, Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern expatriates, English-speaking international students, and a large Southeast Asian community that speaks Indonesian. In a very short time after the government announced the typhoon alert, the mosque management had to disseminate the information about the Friday prayer cancellation massively and accurately. Announcements were made in a multi-language format via social media and community communication groups. The message delivered not only contained the notification that Friday prayers were cancelled, but also religious education that in a storm emergency, the obligation of Friday prayers is replaced with the midday zuhur prayer at home to safeguard one’s life. This swift communication step successfully prevented a build-up of worshippers who might have already travelled to the location in the extreme weather. The closure of mosque activities on Friday, 10 July also paints a beautiful picture of how the Muslim minority in Taiwan is able to integrate with the local legal system. In Taiwan, public safety is an absolute priority strictly regulated by the government. When the mosque aligned its policy with the local government’s decision regarding the typhoon holiday status, it sent a positive message to the wider Taiwanese society. It is a form of maintaining a shared reputation, showing that Islam is a flexible religion that deeply values human life and is ready to cooperate with civil authorities in emergency situations. The Muslim congregation in Taiwan demonstrated their maturity as good citizens by choosing to stay in their rooms or dormitories, while reciting prayers for safety amidst the roar of the typhoon winds outside the window. In the end, the cancellation of Friday prayers at Taipei Grand Mosque due to Typhoon Bavi teaches us that the best place of worship in an emergency is wherever our lives are kept safe. For migrant Muslims in Taiwan, that Friday, 10 July, may have passed without the echo of a sermon under the mosque’s great dome or warm handshakes with fellow migrants. Yet, from behind the windows of flats and dormitories in Taipei, the essence of worship was never lost. The compliance to stay indoors for safety, while replacing Friday prayers with zuhur, is another form of worship no less noble, proof that strong faith will always be able to adapt, even amidst the fiercest sweep of a storm.