Bengaluru: Barring the coastal belt of Karnataka, all other places in the state will celebrate Eid -ul-Fitr on Monday.
The coastal district like Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi are observing the festivity on Sunday. Even Kodagu district observed Eid on Sunday.
The festival is being observed in a very different manner, nothing close to the usual Eid, due to the ongoing lockdown and the Corona pandemic scare.
The Eid prayers were held in their respective homes by the faithful in all the coastal district and no crowd was seen at the Masjid to offer prayers. However, customary prayers were held at all the mosques with minimum number of people, as stipulated by the government.
The religious heads of all the districts had given a clarion call to the faithful to follow the lockdown norms strictly and offer prayers at home.
Certain pockets of Hasan and Chikkamagaluru district too have decided to celebrate Eid on Sunday, which marks the end of 30 days of fasting during the holy month of Ramzan.
The celebration coincided with the complete lockdown announced by the state government for Sundays. However, the Dakshina Kannada district administration relaxed the rules to make way for the community members to do festival shopping of essential commodities.
“All the devout Muslims offered Eid prayers (namaz) at their home and greeted each other from a distance to maintain physical distancing. Attired in new clothes, all of us part-took the festival dishes, including biryani and kheer,” Urdu teacher Habibur Rahman told IANS.
“This is the first time in our life we are celebrating Eid at home as we are unable go to mosque for prayers or greet others due to the extended lockdown, which also made us observe fast during the month-long Ramadan at home,” recalled Rahman.
The first day of Shawwal (1441 Azli Fazli) will be on Monday.
In a video message, Jamia masjid Imam Maulana Abdul Aleem of Bhatkal in the northern coastal district urged the people to maintain peace and harmony and bear the inconvenience due to the lockdown with fortitude.
“May this special day bring peace, blessings and happiness to all. Pray Allah to accept our prayers on the Eid,” the Maulana said on the occasion.
Bhatkal is about 460km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.
The Imam also hoped (Inshallah), COVID menace would soon end so that all could get back to normal life and meet relatives and friends again.
Meanwhile, keeping in mind the essence of Eid, which is also about giving alms to the needy, DYFI members came forward to serving food to the migrant workers who are stranded in Mangaluru.
DYFI members, who have been helping the migrants all this while, stepped up their service on the Eid and served Eid lunch to migrants at Jokatte, Surathkal and nearby areas.
