A local charity is making it easier for people to pray on time while hanging out on the Corniche.

Muslim visitors will now be able to make use of several new roll-out prayer stations, courtesy of the Sheikh Thani Bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF).

To protect them from the weather, the prayer carpets are kept in metal boxes. They can be wound in and out using a handle on the side.

Praying five times a day is an important tenet of Islam, and Muslims get extra credit for performing the daily prayers in congregation.

Speaking to the Peninsula this week, a spokesperson said that each prayer rug can accommodate up to 30 people at any one time.

They are also positioned so that worshippers face Makkah.

Social responsibility

According to RAF, a team from the charity’s New Life Center has been tasked with maintaining the carpets, and replacing them as and when necessary.

The unnamed official said that the prayer stations are just one of RAF’s “social responsibility” projects and aim to remind Muslims of the importance of praying on time and in groups.

In addition to its domestic projects, RAF has recently raised millions of riyals to fund the construction of mosques abroad.

In 2015, it put QR24m of donations to use building some 375 mosques in 23 countries on three continents.

The pullout prayer rugs are also located in some parks around town.

Have you seen and/or used them? Thoughts?