Qatar’s community mourns the passing of Sheikh Qari Muhammad Iqbal, a muezzin at Hessa Al Suwaidi Mosque, who reportedly passed away during Fajr prayers, evoking an outpouring of condolences and prayers during the sacred last 10 nights of Ramadan.

Qatar’s community mourned Sheikh Qari Muhammad Iqbal, a muezzin at the Hessa Al Suwaidi Mosque after he reportedly passed away while performing Monday’s dawn prayers, known as Fajr.

Iqbal peacefully passed away during the last prostration, or sujood, of the prayer in the mosque in Al Aziziyah, witnesses said on social media.

The late muezzin’s body will be laid to rest on Monday in the Mesaimeer cemetery, the local page Qatar Deaths confirmed in a post on X.

The news about Iqbal’s death was met with an outpouring of condolences and prayers, with many noting the timing and place of his passing during the last 10 holy nights of Ramadan. 

“May God accept him among the righteous. The virtues of time, place, form, and situation have come together[…]Prostration is the closest the servant gets to God, and the state is fasting,” Mubarak Al Khayarin, a member of the Qatar Leadership Centre, said on X.

”May God have mercy on him. One’s life in this world will end sooner or later, so congratulations to the one for whom it ends with a good ending,” one social media user said.

Other social media users shared a video from the mosque during the Duhur prayer, hours after Iqbal’s passing, where one of his sons can be heard performing the call to prayer.

“The first call to prayer is performed by one of Sheikh Qari Muhammad Iqbal’s sons, who passed away to God’s mercy at dawn today while performing the dawn prayer. May God have mercy on him and bless his descendants,” one person said on X.

The last 10 nights of Ramadan are important for Muslims as the Laylatul Qadr, the Night of Decree or Night of Power, falls in one of them. The sacred night is believed to be when the holy Quran was first revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

The Quran also places great emphasis on the significance of Laylatul Qadr, the night when one’s destiny is decreed for the following year.

This means that when one performs a good deed on the blessed night, it is as if it has been done for more than 1,000 months. 

Praying Isha and Fajr in congregation is encouraged during the last 10 nights of Ramadan as they increase one’s deeds.

Uthman bin Affan narrated that Prophet Muhammad said: “Whoever attends Isha in congregation, then he has [the reward as if he had] stood half of the night. And whoever prays Isha and Fajr in congregation, then he has [the reward as if he had] spent the entire night standing [in prayer].”