Prayers at Eidgah, sacrifice and dawats marked the Eid -ul-Adha celebrations across the city on Thursday. There was a huge gathering at Eidgah Sunni Shahi Jama Masjid, Center of Muslim Punjab, Gulab Devi Hospital Road, where mosque’s Imam, Qari Abdul Subhan, explained the importance of sacrifice and prayed for peace, progress and communal harmony in India.
Mosque president and advocate Naeem Khan said that it is a celebration of renunciation and sacrifice that teaches us the spirit of giving up. He expressed his annoyance over the absence of any representative from the government at the Eidgah this morning to convey greetings to the Muslim community. “Around three years ago, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had addressed people on the occasion of Eid and had said that the development of the Eidgah would be completed before the next Eid, something even the previous governments had failed to do. However, even after six Eids have passed, neither has any government representative visited the Eidgah nor has any development work been carried out there by the government", he said.
He said nonetheless prayers were held for the welfare of the entire state. Regarding dawat, he said, “People make sacrifice and lay out the feast. I have had not got time to attend the feast at my own place as I had invite from at least 20 places. There has been a variety of delicacies that the community has cooked including Hyderabadi biryani, mutton korma, sewayian. I and my father often cook on the occasion but we could not do it this time".
Mohammad Imtiaz, who works with Akashvani, said, “We attended prayers, participated in kurbani and had dawat arrangements for friends, relatives and neighbours. A portion of the sacrifice was duly shared with the poor. We usually cook both goat and lamb meat. Sweet rice is served at the end".
