Hyderabad: Covid robs the sheen off Eid

Hyderabad: Eid ul-Adha was celebrated in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana on Saturday on a low-key in view of coronavirus crisis, as the Muslims offered prayers in mosques and sacrificed animals.

Namaz-e-Eid was offered in mosques and worshippers maintained social distance and took other precautions as per the COVID-19 protocols. There were no prayers in Eidgahs or open grounds which otherwise witness large congregations of the Muslims twice a year. Like Eid ul-Fitr, which was celebrated in May, the prayers were not held in Eidgahs. However, this time, the congregational prayers were allowed in mosques but subject to certain restrictions. Most of the mosques saw prayers in two spells to ensure social distancing among the worshippers.

There were no congregational prayers in the Historic Mecca Masjid and Shahi Masjid in Hyderabad. The two mosques remained closed for worshippers as a precautionary measure. Historic Mir Alam Eidgah and Mecca Masjid, near Charminar, used to witness biggest gatherings on Eid.

In most of the mosques, people who offered a 'Fajr' or pre-dawn prayers stayed back for Namaz-e-Eid held half-an-hour to one hour after the sunrise.

Eid ul-Adha or Bakrid is the second major Muslim festival celebrated to commemorate the sacrifice by Prophet Ibrahim, who offered to sacrifice his son Ismail on Allah's command.

The Almighty, however, replaced Prophet Ismail with a lamb just as Prophet Ibrahim was about to slit his son's throat.

Imams, in their sermons on the occasion, called upon the devout to imbibe Prophet Ibrahim's spirit of sacrifice and said the Eid's message is that they should always be ready to surrender to Allah's will.

There were no traditional handshakes and hugs after the prayers as people restricted themselves to 'salam' and greeting each other orally. After the prayers, Muslims offered sacrifice of 'halal' animals to Allah. Sacrificing is obligatory for adult Muslims who are 'saheb-e-nisab' or possess wealth equivalent to 87.48 gram gold or 612.35 gram silver.

The meat of the sacrificed animal is distributed equally in three parts. The person making the sacrifice keeps one part for his family, while the other two parts are distributed among relatives and the poor.

This year, the number of people offering sacrifice at their homes came down in view of COVID-19. Avoiding the risk while buying animals or hiring services of butchers for slaughter, many either outsourced the job to traders or socio-religious organisations.