UAE: Mosques, musallahs host Eid Al Fitr prayers
Sahim Salim, Abdul Karim Hanif, Juidin Bernarrd, M. Sajjad and Ryan Lim/Dubai Filed on May 13, 2021 | Last updated on May 13, 2021 at 06.45 am
Photo: Juidin Bernarrd
As it happened: The first socially distanced Eid prayers
The Takbir (religious chants glorifying Allah) echoed through the UAE as thousands of Muslims flocked to mosques and open-air spaces called musallahs to offer the first socially distanced Eid prayers on Thursday.
The UAE is marking the Islamic festival of Eid Al Fitr today after 30 days of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
This is the third Eid amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is the first time mosques have been allowed to host Eid prayers in congregation. Last year, during both Eids, Muslims were asked to offer the prayer at home as a Covid safety measure.
Highlights
Shahi Imam of Delhi s Fatehpuri mosque, Dr Mufti Mohd Mukarram Ahmed, on Tuesday, urged Muslims to offer Eid prayers at home
Bengal Imams Association on Sunday urged Muslims not to hold Eid prayers in large groups in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases
New Delhi: Major Muslim organizations in the country have appealed to Muslims to celebrate Eid with great simplicity in view of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. They also asked them not to gather in large numbers on the auspicious day of Eid and follow the official guidelines.
Shahi Imam of Delhi s Fatehpuri mosque, Dr Mufti Mohd Mukarram Ahmed, on Tuesday, urged Muslims to offer Eid prayers at home. Shahi Imam also informed that Eid ul-Fitr would be celebrated on May 13-14.
UPDATED: January 17, 2021 09:53 IST
Shaky vote bank: File picture of Mamata Banerjee at an Id rally in Kolkata(Photo: Debajyoti Chakraborty/Getty Images)
It was the end of May 2019. The BJP s aggressive campaign against Mamata Banerjee s appeasement politics bore fruit as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost 12 seats in the parliamentary election to wind up with a reduced tally of just 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. Hardly had the West Bengal chief minister got time to adjust to the new reality of the BJP becoming her chief challenger than a seemingly innocuous question at a post-results press conference on whether she ll attend Iftaar parties threw her into a temper. I appease Muslims, no? she said. I ll go there a hundred times. Je goru doodh dei tar lathi-o khete hoi (I am willing to be kicked by a cow that gives milk). Nothing, she made it clear, would stop her from changing her stance towards a community that had fetched her rich political dividend. Of