Moslems worldwide celebrate Idul Fitri
Moslems worldwide celebrate Idul Fitri
JAKARTA (Agencies): An Idul Fitri festive mood prevailed in most predominantly Moslem countries and territories across the globe, even in troubled spots like Sarajevo, Chechnya, Palestine and Somalia, although tensions remained.
In some countries, the occasion was used by leaders to convey political gestures for peace with their opponents. The leaders of Egypt and Bahrain as well as Palestine leader Yasser Arafat granted pardon to prisoners, including political prisoners.
Most Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iran and Iraq marked Idul Fitri, the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadhan, on Thursday. Other places celebrated the day on Friday. Southeast Asian countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Oman, Tunisia Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chechnya celebrated it on Friday.
In Sarajevo, Moslems in Bosnia marked the day under siege for the fourth straight year.
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic and federation vice president Ejup Ganic attended prayers for Bajram -- as Idul Fitri is known there -- at the Bey Mosque, the largest in the capital, in the old bazaar.
"Our situation remains difficult, but thank God things are better now than they were for the last Bajram," Mustafa Ceric, the Bosnian Moslem religious leader told several hundred worshipers, many of them gathered in the courtyard of the mosque in the shadow of a war-damaged minaret.
"With God's help and that of our defenders, we have managed to prevent our physical extermination," he said.
More than half of the capital's 350,000 inhabitants are Moslem, though many do not observe religious practices.
Tension in the western Chechnyan city of Samashki dissipated on Friday as most of the local people celebrated Idul Fitri. However a truce offer by Russian commanders was greeted with skepticism.
In Kabul, embattled residents took advantage of a rare lull in fighting to mark Idul Fitri.
On Wednesday, the last day of the fasting month of Ramadhan, jostling shoppers could hardly move in the Pul Bagha-i-Omoumi market, jammed solid with traders bellowing praise of their wares to people buying treats for the feast.
A week ago, the same street was nearly lifeless. The bazaar was deserted by all but the hardiest traders two years ago when rockets began dropping on the area.
In Gaza, nearly one million Palestinians celebrated the holiday free of Israeli occupation for the first time, but they found find times harder than ever.
Shops and open-air markets in Gaza City teem with parents out to make their children happy for the feast. Stores are full of clothes, cheap plastic toys and sweets. But few can afford them.
In Bahrain, the end of Ramadhan saw the resumption of violent protests for political reforms.
Anti-riot police on Friday fired live and rubber bullets as well as tear gas on the second consecutive day of clashes in Shiite Moslem areas of Bahrain.
Protesters demanding political reform and the release of prisoners set up barricades and stoned security forces in villages on the island of Sitra, the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain said.
The first demonstrations in the Sunni-led Gulf Arab archipelago since Jan. 27 erupted on Thursday during celebrations to end the Moslem fasting month of Ramadhan.
The incident came after the Emir of Bahrain, Sheikh Issa Ben Salman al-Khalifa, in an Idul Fitri gesture, pardoned 100 people implicated in earlier clashes.
World peace
In Dhaka, mass Idul Fitri prayers were used to call for an end to the political bickering between the government and the opposition and for world peace and unity in the Islamic world.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia called for creating a "stable democratic and developed society in light of the essence" of the holiday.
However, her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina Wajed, chief of the main opposition Awami League, said the festivities had come at a time when many people "are smarting in the grip of hunger and poverty" because of food shortages.
There were also speeches with political connotations.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia crown prince, whose country is home to Islam's holiest shrines in Mecca, condemned extremists in the region for exploiting Islam for their political aims.
"It is regrettable to hear Islam being accused of encouraging terrorism and extremism," said Prince Abdallah ibn Abdel Aziz.
"Islam is opposed to extremism ... and those who do harm to it."
In Tehran, Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for Moslems to "unite against the growing plots of the enemies of Islam, with the United States at their head."
"Iran holds out a hand of friendship to all Moslem peoples, not out of weakness or need but in the name of the unity," he told tens of thousands at an open-air ceremony of prayers. "We regret to see that Islamic countries are today trying to strengthen the pseudo-state of Israel," he said.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak ordered the release of 83 "repentant" Moslem fundamentalists and visited El-Nour mosque, a site which was once a stronghold of Islamic activists but opened last week as the country's largest mosque.
In Gaza, PLO chief Yasser Arafat ordered the release of a number of convicts for the Idul Fitri holiday.
Rejoicing
U.S. President Bill Clinton sent his Idul Fitri wishes to Moslems in the United States and worldwide.
"At the close of a month of fasting and sacrifice, Idul Fitri is an occasion for rejoicing," Clinton said in a videotaped message. "Moslems here and elsewhere are gathered to share their joy, and to remember the less fortunate."
"Moslem values of personal commitment to faith and service to society are also universal values," Clinton said. "They know no barrier of nationality or race or religion. They are the values we all share."
"To all those who follow the faith of Islam ... I extend my best wishes with the greeting that Moslems exchange around the world on this occasion: may peace be with you and may God grant you health and prosperity now and in the year ahead."