Eid Mubarak: Coronavirus overwhelms Eid-ul-fitr celebration, ‘virtual celebration’ observed across globe
INDIA: Due to the outbreak of coronavirus across the globe, every person has started taking precautions and adopted some measures to maintain social distancing. Muslims around the world have begun celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan but this year the celebration is slightly different. With no congregation or public gathering taking place in mosques or idgah, people followed social distancing to much extent. The physical celebration turned out to be ‘virtual celebration’ in lieu of coronavirus pandemic outbreak all around the globe.
The visibility or sight of the crescent moon decides the date and time of the celebration. The celebrations vary from country to country. In Somalia and Kenya, people celebrated Eid on Saturday whereas; in Indonesia and Thailand, people celebrated Eid on Sunday. Some parts of the country celebrated Eid on Monday. Almost, all the nations celebrated Eid in a virtual way following lockdown guidelines.
Various organizations participated and took modish steps to ensure that the lockdown doesn’t affect the festive mood among poor people. The Ramadan Tent Project (RTP) in United Kingdom started #MyOpenIftar online with the principle of ‘innovate means to keep the spirit alive’. The organization had continued the arrangement of food supply throughout Ramadan amongst people with the support of LaunchGood, an online crowdfunding platform.
Similar circumstances were witnessed in India. There was no public get-together or assemblage in any places. The community feast was also limited. Many public places, roads were seen empty. There were few shops open with. The mosques and Idgah remain closed.
Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated in Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala on Sunday after Muslim clerics made an official announcement about the moon sighting. It will be celebrated in the rest of the country today. The festival marks the end of Ramadan. In Kerala, prayers were streamed online by mosques as Muslim clerics addresed the faithful.
After thirty-three years, Delhi’s largest mosque was remain shut to devotees on Eid as a lockdown continues to be enforced to contain the spread of the virus. Delhi witnessed a quiet eid without congregation this year. Similarly, all the states mosques were shutdown to curb the pandemic outbreak. Police personnel were heavily deployed across country as coronavirus shadow over Eid festivities.
President Ram Nath Kovind inspired the Muslims to follow the idea of safe-keeping the poor in the pandemic. He expressed ‘in sharing with and caring for the most vulnerable section of the society’. Many religious organizations in India such as Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind strictly instructed the Muslims to follow social distancing.
The Lieutenant of Jammu and Kashmir, Girish Chandra Murmu also urged people to follow the lockdown guidelines. Many religious places in Hyderabad were closed on the eve of Eid due to coronavirus. Additionally, the World Health Organisation instructed people to follow ‘no contact’ celebration.
Meanwhile, India has 1,39,049 cases of coronavirus. Out of which, 57,721 are recovered cases and 4,024 are death cases.