Heavy fog-covered winters or rainy monsoons, no matter how hostile the weather, the most familiar sight of worshipers lined up under the open sky the night before to participate in Eid prayers will not be seen in this Eid either.
After Eid-ul-Fitr congregation, Eid-ul-Azha congregation will not be held at Sholakia Eidgah. This decision has been taken considering the health safety of the people due to corona. Earlier, the Ministry of Religious affairs had said that Eid-ul-Azha prayers could not be held in any open field or Eidgah.
This information was given after the 193rd Eid-ul-Azha preparation meeting at Kishoreganj Collectorate building on Monday (July 27) DC Sarwar Murshed Chowdhury.
Earlier, the District Corona Prevention Committee and Eid Festival Celebration Committee had also announced the closure of Eid-ul-Fitr congregation at the historic Eidgah Maidan Sholakia due to the outbreak of corona. The decision was made to stop the social transmission of the deadly coronavirus.
Every year, more than three lakh devout Muslims from home and abroad perform Eid prayers at this 200-year-old and traditional Eidgah Maidan on the banks of Narsunda River in the outskirts of Kishoreganj town. This Eidgah has earned the reputation of being the largest Eid congregation in the country and even in the sub-continent.
Four people including two policemen, a neighboring woman and a militant, were killed and 17 worshipers, including police, were injured in a horrific militant attack on July 7, 2016. Even then, the tide did not turn in the gathering of worshipers at the Eid congregation at this historic Eidgah.
Mowlana Fariduddin Masood is the Imam of Sholakia Eidgah.