Afghan refugees offering Eid prayers at the Kacha Garhi Camp, Peshawar on October 15, 2013. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL
Though Eidul Azha will be celebrated across the country on Wednesday (tomorrow), some people in Mohmand Agency have decided to ignore the call and observe Eid today as per the advice of local clerics.
Some are observing Eid a day earlier as a symbol of Muslim unity since Saudi Arabia will also observe it on Tuesday. On the other hand, many Afghan refugees living in the country since 1979 choose to observe it with their native country.
Local clerics from the Deobandi school of thought observe Eid with Saudi Arabia after the Taliban in 2008 urged locals to unite in religious matters. However, clerics belonging to the Barelvi school of thought have decided to observe Eid with the rest of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, adherents of Deobandi in Charsadda have decided to stick to Peshawar’s Ruet-e-Hilal Committee’s call and will observe Eid with the rest of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2013.
COMMENTS (14)
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if they sighted moon 1 day earlier then why dont we agree and we celebrate eid according to that to bring in unity
my fried living in those area told me that they actually use to sight moon not just to be different from rest of pakistan
eid mubarak to my pakistani brothers who r celebrating today from Lahore
They have celebrated the eid on right time and not like us here. We all should have prayed the eid namaz today. But we have to wait for tomorrow to pray the eid namaz.
Wishing everyone in Pakistan and around the world a very Happy Eid-ul-Adha! May peace, love and tolerance prevail in this blessed month that gives us all the message of sacrifice and love.
Ali Khan
There is a difference of opinion among scholars, so let's accept that first. Muslims will get reward as long as they follow a valid school of thought, even if it differs from the other.
My personal opinion is that Eid is a calendar day, so there is no issue of time zones here, so Eid should be on 1 day. Imagine following Islamic calendar and setting up a meeting for 5th of Shawwal, with dates being different.. Doh
Regarding sighting Of the moon, when people living in different parts of the world couldn't communicate to each other, then each area looked out for the moon themselves as others were too far to pass the message of a sighting. Now, at the time of telephone, internet, satellite, 21st century dudes.. We can pass message of sighting to others. Hence should celebrate as 1 ummah!
Reply To Another Pakistani :- Brother Salat is performed based on the sun timing [ not with respect to moon ].
@Kamran: it is subject to sighting of Moon that should decide when to celebrate....not what other countries are following. If it is left to them as you Say, then they should follow American or any Western country prayer timing....?
They can better decide about this....
May be they should also revise their Salaat timings as per KSA
Ramadán, Eid and all such religious duties should be done subject to appearance of moon.This is what our religión says, not that what other people in other countries are doing, otherwise this condition would not have been in vogue for a million years....when are we going to grow up ?
Quite strange if anyone call such people Ulema or scholars of islam who dent unity of Pakistan with such henious acts, pathetic approach and clear sentiments of rebellion in every thing.....
They have decided to celebrate Eid with the rest of the world not only Saudi Arabia.