- An enthusiastic Eid festival in China smashes negative western media propaganda
BEIJING, China – Muslims across China observed Eid-ul-Fitr with religious zeal and fervour on Wednesday. One of the biggest congregations of Muslims on Eid was observed here at historic Niujie Mosque in Beijing where I along with several brothers and sister in faith offered the prayers.
Eid-ul-Fitr is observed as a day of rejoice and celebration after a month of praying and fasting to seek forgiveness and blessings from Allah almighty. Eid-ul-Fitr means ‘festival of breaking the fast’ and marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Traditionally, Eid is celebrated for three days as an official holiday in all Muslim-majority countries. However, the number of vacation days varies by country to country basis.
The day marks of culmination of the holy month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar during which Muslims across the globe observed 30 days of fasting. The Day was started with special prayers for peace, progress and prosperity.
The Eid-ul-Fitr is celebrated by various ethnic groups of Muslim community in China, including the Hui, Uyghur, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, Tatar, Khalkhas, Salar, Dongxiang and Bao’an. Many foreigner Muslims living in different provinces of China also join the celebrations and offer the prayers.
Thousands of Muslims from various walks towards thronged the Niujie Mosque to offered Eid-ul-Fitr prayer at the beginning of a major religious day. The magnificent Niujie Mosque is the oldest and the largest mosque in Beijing and also is one of the famous mosques in the world.
Originally built in 996 AD, the Mosque was initiated by an Arabic scholar Nasurddin and was named as “Libaisi” by the Chinese Emperor in 1474 AD. The Mosque has a strictly central axel balanced layout covering 10,000 square meter area. The Muslims also offered Eid prayer in more than seventy mosques in Beijing.
Since it was my first experience of observing any religious festivity in China, it broke the myth of western media propaganda of alleged curbs against Muslims in China. I was happy to see the government officials facilitating the religious festival which broke away the malicious, fabricated and misleading stories about maltreatment of Muslims in China.
The Chinese government had provided a foolproof security cover around Niujie Mosque as hundreds of security officials had been appointed to provide services to the Muslims offering prayers. It was fabulous to see non-Muslim Chinese also celebrate Eid festival with the Muslim community to show solidarity.
Many non-Muslims shared greeting of Eid with Muslim early morning on Eid while many also sent messages and arranged small parties to greet the Muslim friends.
Smiles were everywhere and the atmosphere crackled with excitement. Everyone wore colorful new and traditional clothes. There were so many foreigner Muslims offered prayer with their Chinese brethren. After prayer everyone shared greeting and hugged each other and pray for unity. It’s a symbol of love and solidarity between Chinese and foreigners.
There are so many Halal food restaurants around Niujie. Soon after offering prayers, the Muslims went to food and sweet shops with their respective family members to mark the day of blessings.
Talking to DiploMag, Mr Siddique Hussain from Afghanistan said that the government of China attaches great importance to religious rituals of Muslims.
“Eid-ul-Fitr Festival is a great day here in China. Thousands of fervent Muslims celebrated the Eid with us in the vicinity of Niujie Mosque. The police cordoned off all roads leading to the mosque. This was a manifestation of how considerate China’s government is towards religious minorities,” he said.
Talking to DiploMag, journalist working for Vision Group-Uganda, Mr Mubarak Mugabo said that this has been his first Ramadan away from home. “I’m glad to see Chinese colleagues treat us very well during this holy month and made me feel at home,” he added.
“The colleagues from African and Asia Pacific also made Ramadan smooth especially when we joined together during Iftar throughout the whole month. These were historic moments and have made me appreciate more how China treats Muslims. Eid Mubarak to all,” he added.
Zain Siddique, a Pakistani student in Beijing, said after offering Eid-ul-Fitr, Pakistani students greet each other followed by a great lunch or dinner.
“We exchange, wishes with many other non-Muslim communities including our Chinese mates,” said Zain.
Pakistani Embassy in Beijing also held Eid prayer inside embassy Mosque. A large number of Pakistani community offered prayer there. All Pakistani prayed for peace, unity, solidarity, progress, prosperity of China and Pakistan besides praying to further the brotherhood and friendship between the two countries who also are strategic partners now and have same policy on international issues.
