Eid prayer services go online in Mumbai amid Covid-19 outbreak; youths help poor with essentials

On Monday, as the city celebrated Eid, the Raza Jama Masjid at Phool Gali in south Mumbai, to prevent gathering of devotees inside mosques, arranged for five prayer services online, which devotees accessed through their mobile phones.

Over the past few days, Muslim religious leaders and institutions had been urging community members to celebrate the festival of Eid-al-Fitr indoors, owing to the coronavirus outbreak. Eid-al-Fitr marks the last day of the month of Shawwal according to the Islamic calendar, which marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramzan.

Muslim followers offer namaaz from their homes on occasion of Ramzaan Eid during Covid-19 pandemic at Null Bazaar in Mumbai on Monday.(Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

“The entire world, including our country, has been affected by Covid-19, with thousands of new cases coming up every day. We request you to follow the lockdown, stay indoors and not venture out for shopping,” said Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, president, Ulema Council.

On Monday, as the city celebrated Eid, the Raza Jama Masjid at Phool Gali in south Mumbai, to prevent gathering of devotees inside mosques, arranged for five prayer services online, which devotees accessed through their mobile phones.

At other areas of the city, socio-religious and community groups helped needy members with essentials to make sheer kurma, a sweet dish made on Eid. A group of 15 friends from Mumbai Central distributed 1,100 kits, with each of them containing milk, sugar, sevaiyan (vermicelli) and dry fruits, among other things, to the poor at Byculla, Mazagaon, Tardeo and Dharavi.

“By now, there are volunteers in the all slum areas, who get in touch with NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and groups, and inform them about the families who are in need of essentials. According to their list, we distributed the kits in these areas,” said Ovesh Heera, a member of the group.

Although most members celebrated the festivities indoors, there were reports of lockdown violations in certain parts of Phydhonie and Null Bazaar, where residents alleged that huge crowds had gathered for Eid shopping to purchase clothes, food items and footwear, on Sunday night. The claims were dismissed by senior police officers from the area, who termed it ‘fake news’.