From rustling up meals to break the fast using recipes on YouTube to listening to sermons via Zoom, this year’s Ramadan will be unique for Britain’s estimated 2.6 million Muslims with a reliance on technology due to coronavirus.

With the first day of fasting due on Friday or Saturday, depending on the sighting of the new moon, mosques in the UK are adapting to the lockdown measures by turning to social media and apps to keep in touch with worshippers by livestreaming motivational lectures, courses and prayers.

Facebook Live, Instagram, the Houseparty app and YouTube are expected to be among the sources for those abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset each day to prevent any potential spiritual vacuum caused by the closure of places of worship since late March.

Imran Choudhury, 31, from Luton, a mosque volunteer, believes Islamic places of worship have an opportunity to connect with young Muslims via technology.

He said: “The mosques for me are spiritual hubs, a place where I can recharge my faith in God. Now that they are closed it’s become really important that I fill that spiritual void.

“There’s only so much you can listen to on YouTube but having a live connection with your imam and local scholars through Mixlr, GoMeet or Zoom, is a great way of keeping spirits high.

“I think, in a positive way, this will definitely become the norm even after things have calmed down.

“By using these platforms, the mosques are also capturing the attention of a demographic which have been increasingly hard to reach – the youth. I know many young people are listening to sermons from their local mosques as opposed to the usual ‘social media’ scholars online.”

Mosques around the country are traditionally full with a congregation for the daily Taraweeh night prayers which often finish around midnight. For the next 29 or 30 days of Ramadan, those prayers along with the five daily prayers will be undertaken from home.

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, actor Riz Ahmed and television presenter Konnie Huq are among the prominent British personalities who have collaborated for a new coronavirus advice video for the #RamadanAtHome campaign.

Among the mosques using conferencing apps to connect virtually with Muslims in lockdown are the Bury Park Jamie Masjid and Leagrave Hall Masjid in Luton.

Ashfaque Chowdhury, a member of the management team at Leagrave Hall Masjid, said: “Covid-19 has had tremendous impact on communities and has isolated them to their homes with little availability of spiritual moral social, cultural and mental health support.

“To rise to the challenge, Leagrave Hall Masjid has digitised its facilities online with live Friday sermons via Mixlr and GoMeet.

“Prayers for the deceased are now performed with their families online via go to meeting and Google classrooms is used to keep the teaching of the Qur’an alive amongst the young people.”

Finsbury Park mosque in north London will be streaming lectures and prayers and offering online counselling while volunteers will distribute food to staff at local hospitals.

Cambridge Muslim College is hosting a curated series of daily online talks from scholars on topics including the Qur’an, hadith, self-improvement, arts, culture and astronomy.

Other virtual initiatives include the Ramadan Tent Project, where people sign up to receive recipes, decorations and games and can participate in a virtual Iftar via the Zoom app.

With many restaurants closed and government advice to avoid visiting friends and family, Muslims are increasingly turning to bloggers and chefs on social media for inspiration for recipes to prepare the morning Suhoor meal at dawn and the evening meal at around 9pm.

They include Alia Al Kasimi, a chef of Moroccan heritage, who has 357,000 YouTube subscribers.

Bilal El Amri, 36, a facilities assistant in London, will be turning to the Cooking with Alia YouTube channel for inspiration.

He said: “This year I will watch a recipe video three or four times, write down ingredients, see if I have them in the fridge, buy the ingredients I need then come back and start cooking to the recipe.

“Alia’s website and YouTube channel has so many recipes which remind me of my Moroccan background.

“Things I haven’t tasted for months or even years. It makes me feel close to my family, it triggers part of my muscle memory from the past.

“I make tagines, harira soup, lots of mezes with olives. On a weekend I will make a fish cake.”

He added: “Normally during Ramadan I would go to my cousin’s house to break the fast a few times, invite friends round, or prepare food with my wife and then go to the masjid.

“With my cousins in London we will have a Skype video conference, we can even pray together virtually.”

The Muslim Council of Britain has published guidelines on how to celebrate Ramadan in lockdown with advice on how to arrange “virtual iftars” online with family, friends and community members by using video chat.

The guidelines also encourage people to buy food for the iftar meal in advance to avoid multiple shopping trips.

It says: “Due to the likely inability to host in-person iftars this Ramadan, one way to connect with friends and loved ones is to host ‘virtual iftars’, in which individuals or families can join via video conferencing facilities like Zoom, FaceTime or video-calling apps like Skype or WhatsApp.

“This could be an important way for individuals to stay connected during these times, especially for those who are living alone or away from family.”

Qari Asim, an imam in Leeds, wrote on Twitter that “although emotionally challenging, we’ve an opportunity to truly understand the meaning of Ramadan and practise it [in] solitude and spiritually nourish our souls”.