- Saturday, May 04, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
A feline decided to cause a funny interruption during a nightly Ramadan prayer session in a mosque in Bordj Bou Arreridj in Algeria.
A video of the incident in which the animal is seen climbing on the imam leading the prayers that were being broadcast live went viral on social media.
However, the imam, identified as Sheikh Walid Mehsas, was not startled and let the cat climb on his shoulder even as he led the prayers with his eyes closed.
A cat jumped on an imam during night prayers during Ramadan in Algeria.
📹Sheikh Walid Mehsas pic.twitter.com/v11fZon7qI
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 7, 2023
The animal was seen cuddling up to the imam after settling on his shoulder and jumping down moments before the latter bowed during the prayer along with the followers.
The BBC tweeted the video on Thursday (6) and it received several likes.
Reactions also poured in for the post.
One user wrote, “I’ve always believed animals were a great judge of character That Imam shows compassion for the cat to express such affection.”
Another said, “It’s his gentleness with the cat that really moves me. I don’t know. Whenever I see guys being gentle with cats it somehow makes me less apprehensive? Can’t explain it. Anywhooo. This is lush.”
A similar video from a temple in Thailand had gone viral in January 2020. It showed a cat trying to steal the attention of a Buddhist monk by getting into his lap and nudging him even as he tried to concentrate on his prayers.
