The Purpose of Eid-ul-Fitir
The day of Eid-ul-Fitir truly symbolizes piety, patience, fortitude and godliness.
By: Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi
Socially, Eid-ul-Fitir reminds us to share the festivities with the poor, the underprivileged, the downtrodden, orphans, neglected and the cast off besides embracing people from all walks of life. It goes far beyond that to manifest itself in an handsome shape of social humanitarian sprit.
Eid-ul-Fitir is a day of remembrance. Even in their most joyful times, Muslims make a fresh start of the day by a plural session of worship to God. They pray and glorify His name to demonstrate their remembrance of his favours. Along with that course, they remember the needy by extending a hand of help, to the grieved, by showing them sympathy and consolation, the sick by cheerful visit and utterances of good wishes, the absentees, by cordial greetings and sincere wishes. Thus the meaning of remembrance of the day, transcends all limits and expands over far reaching dimensions of human life.
This Day of happiness is also a day of introspection for us that we should spare at least some time to see if our actions and character can be assessed favorably in the light of Islamic teachings as to whether we have contributed to the well-being of our fellow beings, non-Muslims brethren.
Gratitude and service to humanity are the fundamental values that Islam inculcates in every person. The Eid-ul-Fitir is celebrated, in brief, to express gratitude to God for enabling the faithful to observe fast for a month in the manner of a refresher course punctuated with strict self-discipline ad proves that he holds a strong command over his desires exercises a sound self-control and enjoys the taste of disciplinary life. And once a person acquires these qualities, he has achieved his greatest victory, because who knowns how to control himself and discipline his desire, is free from sin and wrong, from fear and cowardice, from vice and indecency, from jealousy and greed, from humiliation and all other cause of enslavement. So when he received the Eid which marks the achievement of this freedom, he is in face celebrating his victory, and the Eid thus becomes a day of victory
Eid is also a time to realize the urgency of fraternal bonding and the concept of inter-faith harmony that demand a meeting of hearts and minds to weld the Ummah as a cohesive and pious force on the path of peace and tranquility. In the Present Context when Islam is facing number of challenges, the need to highlight Islamic values stress on universal brotherhood, binding mankind together into one entity, and its image as the promoter of peace and harmony demand exemplary behaviors by us as its followers.
Happy Feast of Fitr !
(The Author is the Resident Representative on Interfaith Dialogue, J&K Anjuman-E-SharieShian and can be reached at: [email protected] , Twitter : @agasyedmuntazir)
Kashmir Images is an English language daily newspaper published from Srinagar (J&K), India. The newspaper is one of the largest circulated English dailies of Kashmir and its hard copies reach every nook and corner of Kashmir Valley besides Jammu and Ladakh region.
