The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said that for the sake of public safety, any person having contagious diseases like swine flu should neither perform Umrah nor go to mosques or other public places where there are crowds. “Whoever has a contagious or infectious disease that is harmful, and knows about it, should not go to places where people are gathered, so as not to harm them,” said Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh who is also the Chairman of the Board of Senior Ulema and Religious Research and Ifta Administration. Saad Bin Nasser Al-Shithri, member of the Board of Senior Ulema and also the Permanent Committee for Ifta has said earlier that “It is haraam (forbidden) for a person who knows that he is suffering from a contagious disease like swine flu or is a carrier of the disease, to go to public places where people gather, and these include Umrah sites because the Prophet (pbuh) has forbidden a Muslim from harming others.”
