Finally, the crescent chase stops?

THOSE LOOKING forward to celebrations of Id-ul-Fitr this year were literally moonstruck! Not the weather, which incidentally turned pleasant after Diwali. Not the ever rising prices of commodities either. It was the crescent for the Islamic month of Shawwal that played a truant. As many went off to sleep after Tarawih prayers, announcements from the masjid sentinels woke them up in the wee-hours, not for sehri, but to tell them that the festival would be on Tuesday and not on Wednesday .

THOSE LOOKING forward to celebrations of Id-ul-Fitr this year were literally moonstruck! Not the weather, which incidentally turned pleasant after Diwali. Not the ever rising prices of commodities either. It was the crescent for the Islamic month of Shawwal that played a truant.

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As many went off to sleep after Tarawih prayers, announcements from the masjid sentinels woke them up in the wee-hours, not for sehri, but to tell them that the festival would be on Tuesday and not on Wednesday as had been announced earlier in the evening.

And when they did realise that Id was on Tuesday and not on Wednesday, they were caught unawares.

“Finally, we began preparation for the festival early in the morning but it marred all the festive excitement. I don’t understand why the clerics had to do such a thing. They could have avoided the confusion by announcing Id earlier in the evening on Monday like Delhi and other places did. And if they did see the moon late at night they could have announced that Id is on Wednesday. Id is the biggest festival for us and it requires preparations and meeting people. Chand Raat (Eve of Id) is the most exciting night for us, when we go to the market and buy eatables for the main day but we could not do it this time,” said Sabahat Khan.

In some cases people came to know about Id late in the morning. Like Roshan Ali and his family came to know that Id was on Tuesday when his milkman told him so at 8:00 in the morning.

“When our milkman told us about it we had to rush for the preparations after making some confirmations. I wish that the clerics had announced Id timely,” said Roshan.

However, Maulana Khalid Rashid, Naib Imam of Eidgah said, “I know this announcement about Id has given to a number of problems and inconvenience but we could not help it as we sighted the moon only at about 2:00 am. We could not have announced it earlier as were not sure about it. And even after Delhi announced it we had to confirm it.”

There were several people who were angry at the manner in which Id was decided at the last minute. “The community is being taken for a ride by the clerics,” said Mohd Aslam who got to know about the festival in the morning.

And Rehan Ahmad said that he decided to celebrate Id simply to offer the special Id prayers. “Otherwise for all practical purposes me and my relatives would invite friends over to our place on Wednesday,” he added.