The vacation of Ramadan Bayram, also called Eid al-Fitr, ushered in a day of prayers and pleasure for Muslims around the globe on Friday. The celebration was marred by tragedy in Sudan amid the outbreak of battle there, whereas elsewhere it got here towards the backdrop of hopes for a greater future.
After the Ramadan month of fasting, Muslims rejoice Eid al-Fitr with feasts and household visits. The begin of the vacation is historically primarily based on sightings of the brand new moon, which range in keeping with geographic location.
In Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, staccato blasts of gunfire marked the early hours of the feast day. A lethal battle within the huge African nation that erupted prior to now week has pressured many individuals to shelter indoors forward of the vacation, whilst water and meals for civilians runs low.
In East Jerusalem, 1000’s of trustworthy gathered at Islam’s third holiest shrine, the Al-Aqsa Mosque advanced, the place Israeli authorities attacked prior to now month. The compound additionally hosts Judaism’s holiest website.
Following vacation prayers, a clown entertained kids and a lady painted the cheek of a lady with the inexperienced, purple, black and white Palestinian flag.
The streets of the Arab capitals of Damascus, Baghdad and Beirut have been crowded with worshippers heading to mosques and cemeteries. Many Muslims go to the graves of their family members after the early morning prayer on the primary day of Eid al-Fitr. Visitors toted bouquets of flowers, jugs of water for crops, and brooms to scrub gravestones.
“After the Eid prayer we always visit our dead … to pray and pay our respects, may God have mercy and forgive them on this blessed day,” mentioned Atheer Mohamed in Baghdad’s Azamiya cemetery.
Islam’s holidays comply with a lunar calendar. But some nations depend on astronomical calculations somewhat than bodily sightings. This ceaselessly results in disagreements between spiritual authorities in several nations – and generally in the identical nation – over the beginning date of Eid al-Fitr.
This yr, Saudi Arabia and lots of different Arab nations started their Eid celebrations on Friday, whereas Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia, amongst others, set the primary day of the vacation for Saturday.
In Sudan, the vacation was eclipsed by per week of raging battles between the military and its rival paramilitary pressure, that are locked in a violent battle to regulate the nation. The preventing has killed a whole bunch of individuals and wounded 1000’s.
In a video message launched early Friday, his first speech because the preventing broke out, Sudan’s high normal Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan marked the somber tone of the vacation. “Ruin and destruction and the sound of bullets have left no place for the happiness everyone in our beloved country deserves,” he mentioned.
The day earlier than, Sudan’s army dominated out negotiations with the rival paramilitary pressure, often called the Rapid Support Forces, saying it will solely settle for its give up as the 2 sides continued to battle in central Khartoum and different elements of the nation, threatening to wreck worldwide makes an attempt to dealer a sustainable cease-fire.
Yet in different elements of the area, the current rapprochement between archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran has kindled hopes for peace.
In Yemen, the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement raised the chance for an finish to the civil battle that had changed into a proxy battle and torn the nation aside since 2014.
Saudi officers and Iran-backed Houthi rebels just lately started talks in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa. During the final days of Ramadan, the warring sides exchanged a whole bunch of prisoners captured through the battle.
However, the second of hope was marred by a stampede late Wednesday at a charitable occasion within the rebel-held capital that killed at the very least 78 folks and injured 77.
This yr’s Eid al-Fitr additionally got here on the heels of intensified violence in Israel and Palestine.
Alaa Abu Hatab and his solely remaining daughter began the vacation within the Palestinian Gaza Strip by visiting the graves of his spouse and 4 kids who have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on the day of Eid al-Fitr in 2021. That strike additionally killed Abu Hatab’s sister and her kids.
“Because they were killed in the Eid, I miss them especially during Eid al-Fitr. I miss their laughter,” Abu Hatab mentioned, standing by his household’s grave together with his 6-year-old daughter, Maria. The vacation has turn out to be a “scene of pain and loss,” he mentioned.
In Afghanistan’s Kabul, the place worshippers gathered below the watchful eyes of its Taliban rulers, 35-year-old Abdul Matin mentioned, “I wish that besides security we had good income and good jobs. Unfortunately, people can’t afford to buy all their necessities at this difficult time.”
In Türkiye and Syria, many are nonetheless mourning family members misplaced within the devastating 7.7 and seven.6 magnitude earthquakes that struck the 2 nations on Feb. 6, killing greater than 50,000 folks.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday carried out morning Eid prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, the sixth-century Byzantine church in Istanbul that was changed into a mosque within the fifteenth century. Hagia Sophia turned a museum in 1934 and was reconverted right into a mosque three years in the past.
Erdoğan handed out chocolate and pastries to journalists outdoors the mosque.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
