Subject to the sighting of the moon for the month of Shawwal, Eid-ul-Fitr this year will be observed across the country tomorrow or day after tomorrow. Eid-ul-Fitr, the greatest religious festival for the Muslims, marks the end of practising self-restraint and self-purification through fasting and other religious rituals during the holy month of Ramadan. Eid brings peace and happiness for the Muslims who celebrate it with festivity and religious fervour.

The festival could have been more pleasurable had not there been some unenthusiastic factors. The holy month of Ramadan instructs Muslims to follow a definite code of conduct both in their personal and social life. It advises devotees to refrain from all wrong-doings and encourages them to practise self-restraint. It flows from these teachings that traders should be fair in their business and refrain from doing unethical transactions. But dishonest sections of the traders use the month to maximise their profit by adopting various unfair means. Most of the transport owners take advantage of people’s craving for going back to ancestral homes and squeeze exorbitant fare from them. The combined effect of these factors casts a pall of gloom over the spirit of the holidaymakers. And to add insult to injuries, politics of bizarre nature has declared shutdown program for two consecutive days immediately after the Eid.

It is due to these depressing factors that the festival would not be as joyful as it was supposed to be.

Eid had never been nor is it likely to be joyful for people crushed under grinding poverty. Islam urges Muslims to share Eid happiness with poorer sections in society. But, regrettably, the tendency to monopolise happiness seems stronger than sharing it. Neither the government has any program to make Eid festival happier for the slum dwellers, the street children and other sections of the destitute nor are affluent sections of society coming with such benevolent objectives. Eid is full of happiness practically only for a section of society.

While the government should have plans to make Eid meaningful for the destitute, the well-off sections of society should not forget their social responsibility; they should extend helping hand to the poor if they really want to establish the basic teachings of Islam in their own life.

Let us pray for the day when Eids would be of real happiness for all. A happy and joyous Eid for all! Eid Mubarak!!