Austere FestivityRameez Makhdoomi Today pandemic Coronavirus is ravaging entire India and cases in Lacs are reported daily and thousands are dying . Jammu and Kashmir is also seeing huge spiral in cases with thousands reported on daily bases and scores dying . This week we have many holy festivals in Offing as the holy month of Ramadan is coming to end. On Friday 14 May, 2021 The holy and joyful festival of Eid al Fitr is being celebrated with full fervour, zeal and zest . This year we are celebrating Eid in the background of ravaging global Pandemic Coronavirus which has wrecked havoc in India in recent times and killed millions and Infected crores throughout the world.
Eid al-Fitr also called the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”, is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. This religious Eid is the first and only day in the month of Shawwal during which Muslims are not permitted to fast. The date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on when the new moon is sighted by local religious authorities, so the day of celebration varies by locality.
The need of the hour is we spend very less on this Eid and keep much for the poor hit hard by the pandemic Coronavirus.
Religious personalities are also advising that we should celebrate Eid with utmost simplicity . The expert pulse is that we have to follow precautions religiously to keep the curve flat so that health infrastructure can’t be overburden which is already overstretched.The Coronavirus cases are already rising in Jammu and Kashmir by “overcrowding” or not following protocols, the virus can spread like a wildfire.We should limit spending on too much shopping or on any other extravaganza as this can cause further havoc . The need is to help those whose economy or source of living has been hit hard by the pandemic . This pandemic also should make us introspect while even celebrating . In his Ramadan Dairy eminent writer and Gender Justice activist Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikander writes :” Ramadan Diary
How do we know that Allah is not happy with us? When we do not offer our prayers and defer our obligations. Corona pandemic maybe a symptom that Almighty is not happy with us as we have filled the world with our transgressions. We continue to commit grave atrocities against ourselves and others. The way we all have been stopped from praying in masjids, synagogues, churches, temples and places where his name was chanted and we bowed before him is a manifestation of the fact that Almighty does not consider us worthy enough to visit him.
Ramadan is a reminder to all of us that we should mend our relations with Almighty through sincere repentance, asking forgiveness and further make a commitment that we will not commit transgression against others, destroy nature and pollute the environment.
Undoubtedly, the need is to do introspection and celebrate festivals in simple and austere way.
