In a translated comment on the Facebook video, the imam’s Facebook account says the adorable incident took place in the mosque of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, in the state of Bordj Bou Arreridj. — Screengrab from Imam Walid Mehsas’ Facebook page
A live broadcast captured the moment a cat interrupted an imam’s nightly Ramadan prayer in Algeria, and the Internet went crazy for it.
The clip was posted to Imam Walid Mehsas’ Facebook page on Tuesday, April 4. It shows a white cat with orange and black patches pop out from behind a wall next to the imam and meow up at him as he prays. The cat climbs onto a ledge that’s supporting a microphone for a better vantage point, then jumps down and paws and rubs at the imam’s legs to get his attention.
In true cat fashion, the cat jumps back on the ledge, jumps back down and walks in between the imam’s feet and meows up at him again.
When that doesn’t work, the cat jumps right onto the imam’s belly, the clip shows. Imam Mehsas supports the cat’s little shoulders and pets it as it climbs up his chest to perch on his left shoulder, all without missing a beat in the prayer. The cat brushes the imam’s cheek with its tail and licks at his face, jumping down just before the imam bows.
“I love how the cat jumps down right when the Imam is about to go into Ruku’,” someone said in the comments of an account on Twitter that shared the video. “Cat’s like ‘Oh, time to go’.”
“Brings a smile to the face,” someone else said in comments on the tweet.
“So heartwarming!” another person wrote, and someone else replied “That’s how you know you’re in the right mosque.”
In a translated comment on the Facebook video, the imam’s Facebook account says the adorable incident took place in the mosque of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, in the state of Bordj Bou Arreridj.
The video has over a million views. Those who viewed the video on the imam’s Facebook page also seemed smitten with the video. Many comments extended blessings to the imam and seemed to express joy that the calico cat joined in on the prayer.
The Taraweeh is a nightly prayer during the month of Muslim holy month of Ramadan, BBC News reported.
It isn’t the first time a cat has interrupted broadcast religious proceedings, Insider reported.
A tabby interrupted the Dean of Canterbury Robert Willis’ morning sermon in 2020, sipping milk from a jug during the broadcast, the outlet reported.
That same cat later ate his breakfast pancake on camera in 2021, the outlet reported.
Google Translate was used to translate the captions and comments on Imam Walid Mehsas’ Facebook video. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
