As hundreds of Muslim celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr yesterday, a maulana reminded fellow Muslims and politicians to live their life in accordance with the God’s wishes. For political leaders, Maulana Saddiq Nasir had this message: “This is a day that reminds that we need to be upright and moral and honest.” He was speaking with reporters yesterday during the La Romaine Masjid 14th annual Eid open-air celebrations at the grounds of the La Romaine Secondary School.
He said: “Today is graduation after one month of intensive training. Graduates are not expected to throw the trainings to the wind and revert to other ways of doing things put to put learnings into practice. “Today is a day of thanksgiving, a day of self-reflection and self-examination and so on.”
After undergoing intensive spiritual and moral reconfiguration, Nasir said, “Muslims are now meant to live a higher level of obedience to the creator, so too the community. They should also understand that our purpose in life here is to live in obedience to the Creator’s will.” He said Muslims should reflect on their lives to determine if they were living a life in obedience of God’s will.
Asked to explain how certain sections of the Muslim community celebrated Eid on Thursday, he said Prophet Mohammed said beginning and end of the holy month is based on the sighting of the moon. However, he said: “There are others who feel that we should use astronomical calculations now so they are not going with sighting, so those who did the calculations they said that the moon was 24 hours old on Wednesday and went ahead with celebration.”
Those who went with the sighting of the moon continued fasting and celebrated Eid yesterday, he said. After the prayers, alms in the form of money, food and other items were distributed to people who gathered under a tent short distance from where the prayers took place. After the function, most Muslims spend the day visiting with relatives and friends. Some Muslims also exchange gifts with relatives and friends.