Hyderabad: Ramzan is the month of fasting and prayers. To reinforce the spirit of the month, over 2,000 people in Hyderabad have taken up a community initiative.
Convener of the group Ather Moin says, “We find more and more people spending time shopping and preparing delicacies, eating, and organising iftar parties instead of praying. In Hyderabad, Ramzan has become synonymous with haleem. The religious aspect is to control hunger and understand the plight of those who don’t get a proper meal.”
Started as a small initiative by 30 friends two years back, it has now grown into a group, involving thousands, who pledge to motivate youngsters and impart the right meaning of Ramzan. The group also uses social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and What’sApp to spread the message: ‘Ramzan is the month of fasting and not feasting.’
Read: Islamic holy month, Ramadan begins in Saudi, many Arab states
Asif Mohammed, president of Islamic Academy of Comparative Religion, said, “We are trying to motivate the youth to understand the true meaning of this month. In this era of marketing strategies, the very soul of the holy month is lost.”
The group is working to ensure that namaaz timing are strictly followed by everyone. Islamic scholar Maulana Ahsan Alhamoomi explains, “In the last few years we have been noticing that after the first set of prayers, nearly half the people go away. The rest vanish after the second set of prayers. After that, most shops open and the youngsters are busy feasting while women go for shopping.
This should not be the case.”
People use this month to prepare for Id. Alhamoomi says, “We are asking people to shop a month before Ramzan, set money aside for charity and use time in prayers.”
