President Sheikh Mohamed has called for rain prayers to be held in all mosques in the UAE on Friday, October 17, half an hour before the Friday prayer.
The prayers, known as salat al istisqa, are performed to ask God for rain and mercy, the Prophet Mohammed’s sunnah says. The tradition is performed across the Gulf when rainfall is delayed. A call for the prayers to be performed is issued by a nation’s leader.
Sheikh Mohamed had previously called for such prayers to be held in December last year.
September and October often bring some of the most humid conditions of the year, with some days peaking at 100 per cent humidity. This year has been relatively dry by comparison.
While bouts of rain across the UAE are not uncommon – especially in the Northern Emirates – the UAE has an arid desert climate. The country typically receives about 150mm of rainfall annually.
Additional rainfall can be crucial for the agriculture sector, as farmers seek to cultivate healthy crops in challenging conditions, as well as bolstering groundwater reserves.
The UAE has taken significant steps to increase rainfall over recent years. The country launched its cloud-seeding programme in the 1990s.
By the 2000s, the National Centre of Meteorology was working with global peers such as Nasa and the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in the US to further develop seeding strategies.
The National Centre of Meteorology last week warned of heavy rain at the weekend, but the UAE on the whole remained dry.
