Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Muslims pray for depressed economy at Eid-el-Fitr

By Odita Sunday and Isaac Taiwo
07 July 2016   |   6:51 am
Muslims all over the world offered prayers yesterday to mark the end of Ramadan and beginning of Eid-el-Fitr celebrations. The Guardian observed it was a low-key event, owing to the prevailing downturn in the nation’s economy.
A cross section of worshippers at Dodan Barracks, Lagos durin the Eid-el-Fitr  celebrations ...yesterday

A cross section of worshippers at Dodan Barracks, Lagos durin the Eid-el-Fitr celebrations …yesterday

Lagos Deputy Governor calls for religious tolerance, united Nigeria
Kaduna church distributes food to internally-displaced persons, prisoners

Muslims all over the world offered prayers yesterday to mark the end of Ramadan and beginning of Eid-el-Fitr celebrations. The Guardian observed it was a low-key event, owing to the prevailing downturn in the nation’s economy.

The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Alhaja Idiat Oluranti Adebule, yesterday felicitated with Muslims in Lagos. In a statement by his media aide, Akeem Odusina, the deputy governor noted that the festive period called for sober reflection, appreciation for Allah’s mercies and thanksgiving for peace and progress recorded so far in the state.
 
The deputy governor, while praising Lagosians for maintaining harmonious co-existence in the challenging period of insecurity in the country, admonished them to continue to live together with mutual respect and tolerance for one another so that we can continue to enjoy the delivery of good governance, economic prosperity and safer Lagos, which the Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration is providing.

 
She urged parents and guardians to enjoin their children and wards to eschew violence and refuse to be lured or brainwashed to engage in anti-social activities during and after the celebration.
 
At the praying ground in Ikeja, hundreds of worshippers gathered to herald the Eid-el-Fitr, leading to a congestion of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway after the prayers.

According to Sodiq Dauda, who had his prayer with his family members at the Ikeja ground, said the situation of things in the country calls for serious prayers. “Everybody is feeling it, whether rich or poor. We all pray for a turn for the better really soon.”

He defined the significance of Ramadan as a period to get closer to God. He likened fasting to a kind of sacrifice, noting that during the period, all bad habits are done away with.

Dauda explained that whatever change in lifestyle an average Muslim was able to pick up during fasting would continue to manifest in his or life thereafter.

“Fasting does not promote neither does it demote God’s position as sovereign, but rather He allowed fasting to humble man and make man to learn more about Him. It is a period to know how hunger is in the body, so that one would be able to have feelings for those that do not have and know how to give.

“If after fasting, one returns to all his bad habits, the individual has just punished himself for a month. It is embarrassing to see some people immediately after fasting resume their drinking habits at the beer parlour. Such a person does not know the significance of Ramadan.

Another worshipper, Abdul-Azeez Yahaya, said the reason Muslims fast is to get closer to God and give alms to the poor. “We are to help the needy, the fatherless, the jobless especially now that things are hard. We are also to pray for our leaders, because all what we are passing through today are caused by our leaders.

“My message to the leaders in this country is for them to remember the masses and the poor and desist from amassing the kind of wealth they cannot finish spending in the next 10 years, while others are left suffering. They should fear God,” he said.

In Kaduna State, the Christ Evangelical Intercessory Fellowship Ministry of Nigeria yesterday distributed over 1,000 packaged food and drinks to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), destitute and widows to mark Eid-el-Fitr.

General Overseer of the church, Pastor Yohanna Buru, said that gesture was aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians in the country.

Buru led a team of Christian and Muslim youths to distribute the food, including clothes to inmates of Kaduna Central Prison and IDPs at Badarawa, Ungwan Dosa, Barakallau and Rigasa, all located in the northern part of Kaduna metropolis.

“We see it as a duty to support our brothers with food so that they can join other Muslims around the world to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr. The bible teaches us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves; as Christian clerics, we are simply obeying the teaching of the Holy Book.”

0 Comments