Hyderabad: Will the Milad-un-Nabi celebrations be any different this time? This question is doing rounds as just two days are left for the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad.
Different programmes are being finalised in the city to mark the occasion. While some organisations are planning to hold blood donation camps, some arranging poor feeding and others are holding meetings to explain the seerat (biography) of the Prophet. As usual the annual Jalsa-e-Rahmatul Lil Alameen of Tameer-e-Millat is expected to be the biggest public gathering at the Exhibition Grounds.
However, what is giving anxious moments to ulema and concerned citizens are the un-Islamic practices and unruly bike rallies being organised by a section of the community every year on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi. Of late many un-Islamic practices have crept in the Milad-un-Nabi celebrations bringing disrepute to the community and putting a question mark on austerity and sobriety, the hallmark of Islam.
Senior clerics and community leaders have come out strongly against the use of DJ music and loudspeakers at high decibel level during the celebrations. Also the nuisance created by youth who fan out in the city riding motorbikes with three and even four persons astride has been denounced. But appeals against such ostentatious celebrations have largely gone unheeded. This is not all. Some youth purposely remove the bike silencers to create more noise, putting everyone to trouble. In view of the sensitive nature of the occasion, police remain mute spectators and merely snap pictures of the unruly rallies.
Community elders recall how the Milad celebrations used to be a low key affair with people confining the festivities to just their homes. The devout used to flock to the local mosques to hear the sermons on the Prophet’s life and times. But in the last few years the celebrations have grown both in size and shape.
There appears to be a sort of competition in some sections of the community to outdo each other. That explains the boisterous tone of the programme. The pomp and pageantry, sloganeering, flags and buntings adoring the roads give the impression that it is celebrations of a political party and not that of the Prophet’s birth anniversary. “The Prophet’s birth is definitely a joyous occasion for the believers but one should adhere to the Shariah limits while celebrating the event,” says Mufti Mohammad Qasim Siddiqi of Jamia Nizamia, the well-known Islamic seminary.
Hyderabad’s old city sees the youth going berserk doing things which are totally against the teaching of the Prophet. Rallies taken out on the occasion choke the roads, putting people to lot of trouble.
In fact Jamia Nizamia had even issued a fatwa asking the community to desist from un-Islamic practices like playing music, singing and dancing on Milad-un-Nabi occasion. It also strongly disapproved the practice of installing the models of Ka’aba and Masjid-e-Nabvi on roads. But its edict failed to have any effect. Days before the event, many mosques devote the Friday sermons to counsel the community to adhere to austerity, to adopt a sober approach in observing Milad-un-Nabi and not to cause inconvenience to others.
Many concerned citizens and community leaders have appealed yet again for decorum to be maintained in observance of Milad-un-Nabi. It remains to be seen what effect it will have this time.
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