Traditional fervour not visible at Jumat-ul-Vida

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 23

Even as Jumat-ul-Vida was celebrated across the Kashmir valley today, the traditional fervour associated with the last Friday of the holy month of Ramazan was missing.

A comparatively lesser number of people offered Friday prayers at the revered Hazratbal shrine and the Friday gathering could not be held at Jamia Masjid in the old city due to restrictions imposed by the government. Restrictions had been put in place after a Hurriyat call for post Friday prayer protest.

Largest Friday prayer gatherings on Jumat-ul-Vida used to be traditionally held at the Hazratbal shrine and Jamia Masjid.

However, devotees in large numbers were seen thronging most of the other mosques and shrines for Friday prayers across the Valley. During Friday sermons, religious heads threw light on the significance of Jumat-ul-Vida while bidding farewell to the fasting month.

Meanwhile, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who would deliver the Friday sermon at the Jamia Masjid, flayed the government for imposing curbs on religious gatherings. In a statement, he said, “It is for the first time in the living memory of people that they are being barred from offering Jumat-ul-Vida prayers at Jamia Masjid by the authorities.”

“For the whole year Muslims of the Valley wait for offering prayers at Jamia Masjid on this most important last Friday of the holiest month of Ramazan to earn reward and seek forgiveness of their Almighty. And even that right has been snatched from us by our oppressors,” he added.