Eid is for children

But Mufti Muneeb was not enough to spoil the joy of one little girl in her first gharara, which was proof enough that Eid is meant for children. The funny thing is that this particular Eid is meant to mark the end of the fasting of Ramazan, and children do not fast (as a matter of fact, the girl with the gharara did not fast this year, and won’t for some years to come). Yet the Eid is theirs, and we adults, we who fasted, are just sidekicks on this occasion. Even on Eidul Azha, we adults are only essential as long as the goat is not slaughtered. The exchange of bits of goat make the excuse for meeting one another, but the Eid itself still belongs to the kids. It’s probably only the goat who prevents us being shut out of that Eid, and it’s that blessed goat who keeps us going for this Eid too, when there is no slaughter of any goat involved. Well, it’s not compulsory, but a lot of goats get slaughtered, to meet the demand for extra food so that we can mark the end of fasting by going on a binge of eating.

Apart from the joy of the kids, this Eid is also marked by indigestion. The custom of fasting for six days after Eid was a wise one because it made a welcome break from food and drink that an unused system should avoid. But it seems that that custom (which is also the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)) is no longer generally followed. Otherwise people would be more concerned with what the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee people were doing.

It seems the Committee is not fulfilling its function. Pre-committee, there was always a problem with moon sighting, with the result that the government ordered the setting up of the committee and gave it orders to come up with a single date. After all, the government had to prove itself somehow. For many years it worked, and may work again. But meanwhile, people are learning that no one relies on the committee, and it is better to revive a tradition that has gone out of use: the local committee. This should lead to the situation where people find one more method to divide the world into Us and Them. You know, ‘They’ celebrate Eid differently, and sometimes come upon us on our last roza to wish us Eid. Not to mention that they’re richer than us. So let’s Kill Them All. The government will, as usual, set up a committee, to give an agreed, common moon sighting...