Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr

Aug 20, 2012 News

Muslims across the world yesterday celebrated Eid ul-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
To mark the beginning of Eid and in accordance with the Sunnah, or practices of the Prophet Muhammad, many Muslims wake up early in the morning and pray Salat ul-Fajr, or the pre-dawn prayer. After brushing their teeth, taking a bath and wearing perfume, they have breakfast before heading off to perform special congregational prayers known as Salaat al-Eid.

Local Muslims prepare for one of their prayers.

Many Muslims recite the takbir, a declaration of faith, on the way to the prayer ground and give special charitable contributions known as Zakat al-Fitr.
Eid al-Fitr is a day of great merriment and thanksgiving. Muslims celebrate by gathering with friends and family, preparing sweet delicacies, wearing new clothes and giving each other gifts. A common greeting during this holiday is “Eid Mubarak”, which means, “Have a blessed Eid!”
The religious Eid is a single day (a Muslim is not permitted to fast that day), but it is usually celebrated for three days. Eid is an Arabic word meaning “festivity”, while Fimr means “breaking the fast.” The holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. The first day of Eid, therefore, falls on the first day of the month Shawwal. This is a day where Muslims around the world try to show a common goal of unity.
President of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) Fazeel M Ferouz noted that the Holy Month of Ramadan is a month of great sacrifice during which Muslims intensified their devotions to Allah by fasting from dawn to sunset whilst remaining in the remembrance of Allah and being in a state of goodwill, by giving charity to the poor, needy and the vulnerable, by feeding those suffering from hunger, and the increase of prayers to compliment the compulsory five-daily prayers.
“We perform these actions knowing that by the promise of Allah, we will obtain taqwa or God Consciousness and at our journey’s end obtain His paradise.”