Three Eids!
By Col. (Retd.) Riaz
Jafri
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Some of the North
Western parts of the country celebrated Eid ul
Fitr on three consecutive days - Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday the 23rd, 24th and the 25th of October
respectively. Without indulging into any blame
game or demanding from the penitents any expiation
for annulling the fasts of the millions, I would
say that the whole episode was unfortunate and
amply betrays the disunity among our ulema and
muftis who cannot agree upon a simple phenomenon
of nature which can otherwise be easily determined
by many most reliable modern as well as ancient
means.
The poor masses are not to be blamed at all for
the fiasco as they just follow the clergy in such
ritualistic matters. It is well known that the
ulema belonging to different schools of thought
rarely agree upon an issue. Each one of them considers
himself correct and the others wrong. What to
talk of agreeing with each other, they even do
not pray together or behind one another. At times
one wonders as to why the thickly bespectacled
ulema advanced in age are made to perch on a high
rise building to pronounce the outcome of a purely
geophysical and time and space phenomenon.
Ayub Khan in an obvious gesture of appeasing the
mullahs created the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and
so sowed the seeds of disharmony among the innocent
masses. Rulers following Ayub, in their own ways,
helped the clergy strengthen its hold on the people.
Zia was an outright pro-mullah, and did the maximum
damage. ZAB, in his eagerness to play to the mullah
gallery but not believing in any himself, hypocritically
declared Ahmedis as non-Muslims, banned liquor
and races, and declared Friday as the weekly holiday.
BB, though outwardly a modern, always twirled
a rosary under her quietly quivering lips to impress
the simpletons and travelled all the way to Bangldesh
to seek the blessing of a danda pir there. NS
had his own mystic malang around Mansehra to ‘bless’
him with a broom (jharoo). Junejo would advance
40 steps barefooted to present himself to Pir
Pagara and not turn his back upon him while retreating.
Even Jamali had found a pir in Syeds of Gujar
Khan and laid the Sui Gas pipeline to the city
on a priority basis.
The present enlightened moderates, too, would
be spending near to a billion on the renovation
and expansion of Data Durbar and Barri Imam. A
sum that could most appropriately be utilized
for establishing a couple of universities and/or
hospitals. If this is the state of our superstitious
leaders who seek the blessings and guidance of
the pirs through their brooms and dandas then
God alone may help us. I, therefore, strongly
urge the President that while such leaders are
away, he can at least disband the Ruet-e-Hilal
committees and entrust the task of moon sighting
to the Metrological Department of Pakistan.
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