VARIOUS: Muslims around the world celebrate Eid el-Fitr marking the end of the fasting month

Muslims around the world celebrate Eid el-Fitr marking the end of the fasting month. Thousands of Iraqis Shi'ites in Baghdad's sprawling slum of Sadr city performed the morning prayer of Eid el-Fitr, marking the end of their fasting month of Ramadan on Saturday (October 13). The timing of Eid depends on a the sighting of the new moon, so Sunnis in Iraq celebrated the festival which a day earlier. Fattah al-Sheikh, an official in Sadr office took advantage of the occasion to ask the Iraqi government to release the detainees who were arrested in Kerbala two months ago. "We have more than two thousand detainees and all of us expected the Iraqi government to release the Sadrists in this occasion but unfortunately, they did not. Until this moment, we still have hope that (the government) will release Sadrists who had been arrested in the holy city of Kerbala during the shaabani visit. God willing, this is our only hope," he said. In Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among thousands of people who attended the Eid sermon given by Iranian top cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday. During his sermon Khamenei called on Muslim countries to boycott a U.S. sponsored international peace conference on Palestinian statehood next month. "When Palestinians consider this conference as deceitful and refuse to participate, how can Muslim countries take part in that?" Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state media. Opposition to Israel is one of the cornerstones of belief of Shi'ite Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic militant groups opposed to peace with the Jewish state. In Cairo, Egyptians also marked the first of the four day holiday. Worshippers and their families dressed in their best clothes, made their way before dawn to a mosque to perform early morning prayers. At the Mustafa Mahmoud mosque in the Cairo there was a celebratory atmosphere. After prayers families went to food and balloons stands to begin the festivities. Abeer, a woman who had attended prayers with her family, said it had been a joyous occasion. "The meaning of Eid prayers is to make all of the people gathered here happy, and to gather them all," she said. This year Eid marks the end of what has been a difficult Ramadan for many Egyptians, who have struggled to pay for traditional gifts and large evening meals due to perennial economic hardship combined with unusually high inflation. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation celebrated the end of fasting month of Ramadan on Saturday. Thousands of Muslims gathered at Istiqlal Grand mosque in the capital of Jakarta, to pray and participate in the celebration. For Indonesians this year's Eid falls on October 13 and 14 and the government has effectively made the days immediately before and after, holidays, giving the country a week off. Up to 85 percent of the more than 220 million people in Indonesia profess to be Muslim. Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi threw open the doors to his house for a Hari Raya party to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Diplomats and ordinary citizens, both Malaysians as well as foreigners made their way to the party venue in Kuala Lumpur for a free meal. Dressed in a full traditional Malay costume Abdullah Badawi, his wife, Jean Abdullah, and cabinet ministers, shook hands with many of the tens of thousands of people to attended the occasion. The guests were served with un-ending supply of local food including Malay favourites such as satay and beef rendang, in a festive environment. They are also plenty of desserts and fruits. Iranian student Gholamreza Mansourfar who is doing a PHD in finance in Kuala Lumpur said the festival is observed in a more sober way in his native Iran. "I think here is more interesting for me, we don't have such celebration actually. We don't meet individually with the prime minister in my country," he said. Open house is a popular event in all levels of Malaysian society. The government sees it as a way to promote harmony and understanding between the mutli-ethnic, multi-religious people of the country. Muslims celebrate Eid following the sighting of the new crescent moon. Muslims traditionally convene at mosques early in the morning on the day of the festival to pray. After the end of prayers it is traditional for Muslims to spend the day visiting their friends and families. It is also traditional for Muslims to visit the graves of their relatives, where they leave offerings of food as charity for poor people. The first Eid was celebrated AD 624 by the Muslim prophet Mohammad in Medina in Saudi Arabia, two years after the founding of the first Muslim community there.

ITN Source | October 13, 2007

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