Bhopal: A festive spirit gripped Bhopal on Thursday, as thousands of Muslims flocked to mosques and Idgahs to offer special prayers, exchanged greetings and gifts, embraced one another and took part in feasts with family and friends to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr which marks end of Ramzan, the holy month of fasting. Festive fervour saw people getting drenched in the rain, but still offering namaz.
Across the city, mosques and idgahs were overflowing with devouts with political leaders too joining in the revelry.
In the capital, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan drove to Eidgah along with BJP's state president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan to greet Muslims on the occasion.
Chouhan instructed his security officers to avoid using hooters near the religious place and also not to block traffic and inconvenience other commuters just to give him a safe passage.
However, when his vehicle got stuck in traffic bottleneck, he decided to walk from All Saints School to Eidgah for taking part in the festivity. Despite overcast conditions and scattered showers in some areas, hundreds of faithful dressed in their festive best turned up at Eidgah and other mosques of the city to offer prayers.
Namaz at Taj-ul-Masajid was offered at 8am. Maulana Hassan Ali Khan Nadwi read namaz to nearly 20,000 people present there. Due to the rain, rooms inside masajid were opened, so people can sit inside and offer namaz.
The crowd had swelled so much that some people despite getting drenched read namaz in parks outside but did not complain.
Moti Masjid had a gathering of nearly 7,000 people for namaz at 8:15 am.
It was observed that the gathering this year was fewer when compared to last year's attendance and the reason behind it was attributed to rain. However, there was no let up in religious zeal among those present who celebrated the festival with gaiety.
Wasim Siddiqui, 62, said that this year there was 2,500 lesser footfalls against last year's numbers. Meanwhile, citizens of other religions in Bhopal did not miss the opportunity to extend good wishes to friends and acquaintances through website and other socialnetworking websites.
Gym trainer Zuber Khan said, "Eid prayers are of course an important part of the day. Later in the day, I went Skyping all my friends across the world." He added that he never misses the opportunity to visit his close friends and relatives on Eid.
"This Eid, thankfully, I am with my family but there have been occasions when I have been away on tour and that is when I miss home and most importantly the food," laywer Amber Warsi confided.
Eid-ul-Fitr literally means 'festival of breaking the fast'. Like other festivals observed by Muslim community, this festival symbolizes faith. The festival is celebrated based on an Islamic belief by following the form of social practice.
Eid is celebrated on the first date of Shawwal, that is the tenth month of the Hijra calendar. Muslims exchange gifts and greet their neighbours as a mark of solidarity and brotherhood.
After the prayers, people hugged each other and wished "Eid Mubarak", before exchanging gifts and relishing special dishes, particularly 'sewaiyan' 'phirni' and different varieties of 'biryani' and 'kebabs'.
Hence, this is a day when Muslims around the world try to show unity through one day of festivity.
The setting is perfect with family, friends, gifts and food.
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