Joy of Eid!

 

After a month’s fasting in Ramadan days, Eid comes with festivities across the Muslim world including Bangladesh. Eid celebrates the completion of Ramadan, either in 29 or 30 days depending upon sight of new Moon of Shawal, in which Muslims fast and increase their spiritual devotion. After the end of Ramadan people rush to fix their gazes at the West sky to see the new moon of Shawal harbingering beginning of Eid from the following morning after Eid prayer. Eid is an Arabic word, whose root connotation is that which come back, time and again, and rejoicing. Prophet Mohammad (Pbuh) said on two major Eids, Eidul Fitr and Eidul Azha “they are days of eating, drinking and remembrance of Allah”. On Eid, Muslims all over the world thank Allah for the gift of fasting, in which they avoided food and drink from dawn to dusk, out of obedience and servitude to Allah.

After the sight of new crescent Moon, our national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s:“O Mon ramjaner ei rojar sheshe elo khushir Eid / Tue aponare aaj biliye de shon asmani takid” rings in every household by the courtesy of TV channels. Appended below is the full text of the above song translated by Dr Nashid Kamal befitting to the spirit of the day:

“At the end of Ramadan, comes joyous Eid./ Give yourself away, listen to your inner belief./ Your riches are all for others/ Give zakat to awaken dying Muslims/ You will pray today at Eid premises / One where, all martyrs laid their lives/ Forget who is friend or foe, shake hands with all./ With your love, unite people in Islam/ From the plate of the heart pour holy food of Oneness/ Your invitation will be accepted by the Prophet (pbuh)”

 Children in the household eagerly wait when the night will end so that they could wear newly bought dresses for Eid day. House ladies get extraordinarily busy preparing sumptuous dishes like poloa, korma, rejala, kopta, biriyani, shemai, firnee, jarda and lot more mouthwatering dishes to name for Eid day. Men get busy in making sure that their payjama and punjabi are well ironed and crissed and atar and perfume remain handy to smear on the attire for the coming morning. At last cherished  morning comes with Sunshine and call of muajjin to proceed for Eid jamat either at the open ground or the mosque. Eidul Fitr namaj begins on time followed by Khutba and Munajat seeking divine blessing. Soon after the end of Eid namaj, exchange of goodwill embraces begin with each other at the mosque or prayer ground and continue till landing at home for exchanging pleasantries with the members of the family. After prayers, as soon as you are stepped out from the prayer venue, to your great shock, you meet beggers swarming around in the streets and alleys for alms in shaby and tattered dresses (!) While passing through the beggars with giving some alms, if you are a man of mind, your joyous mood for Eid day fades and terribly shattared to take you to a state of societal collective guilty concious that the joy of Eid day, draped in expensive punjabi and payjama, smeared in expensive atar and perfumes is nothing but making a mockery out of it. At home, aroma of delicious food laid on the table for relishing taste melts and turn insipid when images of extremely marginalized people in hungry mouth flash back in your eyes.   

Religion of Islam introduced a system of Zakat equivalent to 2.5% of the net worth upon rich and wealthy people, payable to the poor and marginalized people as some temporary respites to their never ending  financial agonies. In Bangladesh context, it is doubtful to reason  whether this principle of Zakat is strictly followed by those people upon whom Zakat is declared farz or compulsory. Wealthy people often make a showdown to pay Zakat to thousands of marginalized people eligible to get Zakat struggling in huge rush where, on occasions, some frail poor people dies in stampede in the corridor of wealthy people distributing Zakat as previous records reflect. The religion of Islam preaches that your one hand must not know the Zakat or charity in any form being disbursed to the poor people by the other hand. In the flagrant violations and abuse of the injunctions of Islam, rich and wealthy people mostly parade and demonstrate their vulgar wealth by showdown where, as stated, poor people struggling to take Zakat goodies get blatantly humiliated and in some situation die in stampede.

We often boast of talking in baritone, of robust economic development in the form of flyover and mega projects and heave a hiccup of complacency. It is a matter of great concern to note that the bigger the country’s GDP is, wider is the gap between poor and the rich surfaces. Concentrations of country’s wealth in few hands including high profile corruption, fraud, depravity, plundering bank money, money laundering and many other means of unlawful activities push the majority of the people to the brink of creeping poverty. Feeding the people with the jugglery and arithmetic of percapita income and percapita GDP conundrum is  nothing but a big hoax. As for example, if you calculate percapita income between two persons, one with an income of taka one lac a month and the other with taka ten thousand a month, then percapita income between these two men reflects a figure of Tk. 55,000/- which is equally nothing but a deception engineered by tricks.

Constitutionally we are citizens of Bangladesh following an egalitarian system with equal justice and equitable distribution of country’s wealth, set by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It is set to follow the principle of equal justice, then, verily, there should not be any beggars or extremely marginalized poor people swarming in the streets and alley with beggar’s bowl, on joyous Eid day of great festivity. Spirit of Eid with joy and festivity, wearing new clothes smeared with perfumes turns bleak when you get immersed in the deluge of beggars and heavily marginalized poor people gasping for breath in the streets and alleys in scorched heat for little alms or charity on Eid day.

In spite of the wide range of difference between rich and poor, we celebrate Eid with joy and festivity and try to contain the need of the poor people, if not fully, but partially with giving Zakat on actual calculation following the principle of Zakat and paying fitra before we enter the mosque for Eid Jamat.

Joy of Eid with colorful dresses will be meaningful in a society where gap between rich and poor can be reduced to a great extent toward making a egalitarian society based on equal justice and equitable distribution of country’s resources as Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman dreamed of. With her pledge for zero tolerance to corruption, our honorable prime minister is working hard to shape a new Bangladesh fulfilling people’s hopes and aspirations. Let us hope that under the dynamic leadership of our prime minister, a mega project of  rehabilitation of street beggars and warding off poverty from our national character will be launched soon in the coming days. Let us all pray and look forward to an ideal Eid day in near future where beggars and marginalized segments of people in cadaverous physical stature will not be seen anymore in the street struggling  gasping for breath for a little alms and charity. May Allah bless us. Eid Mubarak. 

With 32 thousand eight hundred plus people including more than 10 thousand children dead over last couple of months including holy month of Ramadan in Gaza by Israeli barbarity which is no less than monstrous and ghoulish act in nature, people of Gaza and Palestine are now constantly  in the state of horror and trauma. Eid day does not bring any respite or joy to them, rather they see horror of death in every hour and minute they are exposed to Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment. Although we have our limitation to stand physically beside them, yet we express our solidarity with unwavering moral support to them  and pray to almighty Allah to protect Gazan and Palestinian people from Israeli brutality and bring them back to normal life with no more deaths on daily basis. With a heavy heart I say Eid Mubarak to Gazans and Palestinians.


Mahbubar Rahman is a freedom
fighter and a former civil servant
of Bangladesh government.