Eid prayer services go online, youths help poor with essentials
Over the past few days, Muslim religious leaders and institutions had been urging community members to celebrate the festival of Eid-ulfitr indoors, owing to the coronavirus outbreak.
Eid-ul-fitr marks the last day of the month of Shawwal according to the Islamic calendar, which marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset Ramzan fasting.
“The entire world, including our country, has been affected by Covid-19, with thousands of new cases coming up every day. We request you to follow the lockdown, stay indoors and not venture out for shopping,” said Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, president of Ulema Council, a group of religious scholars.
On Monday, as the city celebrated Eid, the Raza Jama Masjid at Phool Gali in south Mumbai, to prevent gathering of devotees inside mosques, arranged for five prayer services online, which devotees accessed through their mobile phone applications.
At other areas of the city, socio-religious and community groups helped the needy members of the community with essentials to make sheer kurma, a sweet dish made on Eid.
A group of 15 friends from Mumbai Central also distributed 1,100 kits among the poor at Byculla, Mazagaon, Tardeo and Dharavi.
Each of these kits had milk, sugar, sevaiyan (vermicelli) and dry fruits, and other essential things to mark the festivities.
“By now, there are volunteers in the all slum areas, who get in touch with NGOS [nongovernmental organisations] and groups, and inform them about the families who are in need of essentials,” said Ovesh Heera, a member of the group.
“According to their list, we distributed the kits in these areas,” said Heera.
Although most members celebrated the festivities indoors, there were reports of lockdown violations in certain parts of Phydhonie and Null Bazaar, where residents alleged that huge crowds had gathered for Eid shopping to purchase clothes, food items and footwear, on Sunday night.
The claims were dismissed by senior police officers from the area, who termed it ‘fake news’.