Closed for three months, even during the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Islamic Center of Rochester is now open again for prayer service.

For regular congregates like Asif Iqbal, it’s been a long three months.

“It’s been a different world since March," Asig Iqbal said. "We’ve been praying at home, so it’s really exciting to be back at the Islamic Center for congregational prayer, we’ve been missing that a lot as a family.”

And though places of worship were cleared to open at 25-percent capacity earlier this month, ICR President Tabassam Javed said they took their time reopening to make sure careful plans were in place.

“We do not want anybody to be harmed by our negligence, so this is a tremendous responsibility based on that,” Javed said.

Friday is an important day of prayer in the Islamic faith, so the ICR added two additional prayer services which congregants must register in advance for. Though Javed says this isn’t necessary for any of the other days of prayer, as those services don’t draw in as many people.

“The average number of participants that come to all the other prayers is less than 50, and our capacity being 460, 25-percent of that is very safe to do,” he said.

Additionally, disposable plastic sheets will be provided for prayer rugs to be tossed at the end of service, and there’s controlled traffic flow in and out of the prayer hall  —  and congregates took notice.

“I think the administration has taken all the necessary steps to make people comfortable, as congregates, to come back," Iqbal said. "And we’ll see how it goes today.”

Those steps have made congregates like Zakaria Tbakhi feel at ease returning to the ICR.

“It makes me happy to see the whole community worked hard to prepare this all for us so we can come back and pray,” Tbakhi said.

And of course, Javed is thrilled to see his mosque filled with friendly faces once again.

“Minus the hugs, minus the high fives, minus the handshake, and minus the informal —  you know people will just finish the prayer and hang out, that kind of that," Javed said. "That won’t happen, but still it’s a milestone.”