Reflections on Eid
Celebrating the festival. Photo: Munir Uz Zaman/Drik News
EID-UL-FITR is not as old as Eid-ul-Azha. Whereas Eid-ul-Azha, that commemorates the glorious sacrifices of the Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them), goes back to the days of yore in the 18th century before Christ. Eid-ul-Fitr originated in the 7th century AD. In fact, it is the newest major festival amongst the celestial religions. It saw the light of day only 1,387 years ago.
Eid-ul-Fitr was not known to the Muslims till the Holy Hijrat to the then Yathrib (now Medina) in 622 AD. After his Hijrat to Medina, the holy Prophet (peace be upon him) found the people there regularly celebrating two festivals of Persian origin -- the Mihirjan and the Nawroze on the nights of the full moons of spring and autumn respectively. The way these two festivals were celebrated in the then Arabia and Persia was not only highly objectionable but also incompatible with the norms and practices in Islam.
Nawroze and Mihirjan festivals celebrated by the people of Arabia prior to the holy Prophet's (peace be upon him) Hijrat to Medina were mere Arabic versions of the two great festivals of the Zoroastrians namely, Nawroze and Mihrajan respectively. Both Nawroze, the festival of the new year, and Mihirjan, the feast of Mithra, used to last six days, the number perhaps being based on the six Persian gahanbars.
The first day of the new year was called Nawroze-i-Amma (of the people) or Kucak (little) and the sixth day was Nawroze-i-Hasa (noble) or Buzurg (great). It was the custom of the Kisra (Persian kings) that the king opened the Nawroze festival and then proclaimed to all that he would hold a session for them and bestow benefits upon them.
On the second day, the session was for men of high rank and the members of the great families. On the third day, the session was for his warriors, and for the highest Manbadh (priests). On the fourth day it was for his family, his relations and domestics, and on the fifth it was for his children and clients. When the sixth day came and he had done justice to all of them, he celebrated Nawroze himself and conversed only with special friends and those who were admitted into his privacy.
As in the case of Nawroze, the first day of Mihirjan was known as Mihirjan-i-Amma and the last as Mihirjan-i-Hasa. As stated earlier this festival also lasted six days. But at one period it spread over thirty days, the first five being, according to Al-Biruni, "feast days for the princes, the second for nobility, the third for the servants of the princes, the fourth for their clients, the fifth for the people, and the sixth for the herdsmen." Thus, instead of each of the six gahanbars being represented by only one day of the festival, it was at one time honoured both at Nawroze and at Mihirjan by a period of five days.
Both Nawroze and Mihrajan were originally New Year festivals. The Avesta year originally began about the time of the autumnal equinox and, during the closing years of the reign of Darius I (522-486), it was changed to conform to the regular Babylonian year, thus commencing about the Vernal Equinox.
The Arabs used to celebrate Nawroze and Mihirjan from the nights of the full moon of spring and autumn respectively, almost exactly in the same way as the Persians did.
To both, these two occasions were of great honour and significance. It is well illustrated by the following saying of Salman al Farsi (RA) as cited by Al-Biruni: "In Persian times we used to say that God has created an ornament for his slaves, of rubies on Nawroze, of emeralds on Mihirjan. Therefore, these two festivals excel all other days in the same way as these two jewels excel all other jewels."
The general scheme of celebration of Nawroze and Mihirjan not only laid emphasis on the artificial differences between rich and poor, haves and have-nots, which was not at all compatible with the concept of equality in Islam, but also normally led people to being drunk, which frequently lead to brawls and bloodshed.
The Kiyan, women who practiced immoral dancing and singing, used to command wide respect during celebration of these festivals, and even the great chieftains used to pay public court to them during these festivals.
The holy Prophet (pbuh) was literally shocked and surprised, and was reported to have observed: "Allah has given you two days better than these days -- the days of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha." The age old practice of celebration of Nawroze and Mihirjan festivals were very rightly stopped and the Muslims started celebrating the two auspicious Eid days in right earnest -- days in the mornings of which the Muslims say a two-rakat special congregational prayer. And, as in all other prayers in Islam, there is no discrimination of race and nationality, no difference between black and white, rich and poor, wise and ignorant, slave and master, haves and have-nots in this thanks-giving congregational prayer of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The word Eid in Arabic means "joy" and Fitr stands for "break of fast" and symbolises "return to normalcy." Eid-ul-Fitr stands for the joy of breaking of fast or the joy of returning to normalcy. It returns every year as a Divine boon, with a promise of joy and happiness, culminating as it does the month-long period of siyam and taqwa (fasting and self-restraint), tarawwi and i'tikaf (prayers and penance).
Eid-ul-Fitr, the day of rejoicing and offering heart-felt gratitude to Allah through sadqa-i-fitr and the two-rakat congregational prayer in the morning, is indeed a great and auspicious occasion. It is so auspicious that even women, who are always equal participants in the hardship, austerities and pleasures of ramadhan, have been told by the holy Prophet (pbuh) to go out and say the Eid prayers in the Eidgah. Even the nights of Eids have special importance in the eyes of Islam.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "He who passes the nights of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha through prayers will never waver or be afraid on the Day of Judgement, while other will tremble or quiver on that fateful day."
Eid-ul-Fitr is really an exceptional occasion -- something totally different from an ordinary festival. The month-long fasting of ramadan teaches a Muslim how to practice self-restraint in the most scientific way. Sex and food and drink are prohibited for every able-bodied Muslim from dawn to dusk during this holy month, but are permitted not only throughout the remaining eleven months but also from dusk to dawn even during the month of ramadan -- a scientific scheme that is quite reasonable and bearable. This system not only makes the hardship of self-restraint bearable but also pleasant, and the temporary renunciation makes the fulfillment of the basic desires even more pleasant. After a month of siyam and tarawwi, taqwa and i'tikaf, Eid-ul-Fitr reaches us as a pleasant climax and teaches us that Islam is no static system of worship. It is a living and dynamic movement of thought and action which frees men from the grip of animal instincts, from the idea of artificial differences between rich and poor, high and low, and makes them act upon Divine Guidance.
It teaches us over and over again that Islam is a comprehensible code of life, a perfect "Deen" which covers every aspect of life, and imposes the authority of Allah in all its dimensions, in every sphere of activity, in every domain of thought.
None can afford to ignore or fight shy of this auspicious day -- a unique prize-giving ceremony in which the Most Merciful and the Most Gracious Allah, in His infinite Mercy, Himself distributes the prizes to the winners who have successfully practiced not merely fasting but al-siyam in true sense through prayers and penance, self-restraint and abstinence from vices in the right spirit of Islam.
According to a Qudsi Hadith, Benign Providence Himself declares: "Every man's work belongs to him. A good deed is repaid from tenfold to seven hundred times. But fasting belongs to Me and I repay."
No Eid, however, can be successful if it is spent only through fun and frolic, pleasure and gaiety, joy and happiness. There can be no Eid for a Muslim if his neighbours remain unfed and unclothed. No orphan, no helpless person, no hapless soul on this clay of a cold star can remain unwept, unhonoured and unsung on this auspicious occasion.
Each and every hungry mouth has to be fed, every person has to be clothed, and every neglected and despised person has to be looked after in right earnest. The very joy of Eid will be marred if the poor neighbours still remain uncared for, if the poverty-stricken near and dear ones still groan in misery and helplessness.
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