Muslim world celebrates Eid-ul-Fitr

Cairo, June 15 (IANS) Millions of Muslims across the world on Friday celebrated Eid al-Fitr with early morning prayers and family festivities after fasting from dawn till dusk during the holy month of Ramadan. 

Known as a time of forgiveness and rebirth, Eid comes with the sighting of the new moon and can last three days, depending on the country.

It is a significant Muslim festival and a public holiday involving activities including prayers, asking for forgiveness and pledging solidarity, social gatherings and family reunions as well as giving to charity.

The day in holy cities of Saudi Arabia, Mecca and Medina started with Eid prayers being offered at the Grand Mosque and Masjid-e-Nabwi, where a large number of people were present in the congregations. The Lebanese prayed at Mohammad al-Amin Mosque located in Beirut.

Worshippers across the United Arab Emirates celebrated the start of festival with morning prayers. The country’s rulers visited mosques to pray alongside the faithful before receiving visitors.

In Pakistan, Eid was celebrated in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region while rest of the country will be begin the festivities on Saturday as the Shawal moon was not sighted a day earlier.

In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, more than 200 million Muslims participated in festivities.

President Joko Widodo, several ministers and heads of the security forces prayed with thousands in the botanical gardens in Bogor, about 40 km south of Jakarta. Scores of people in other countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar also observed the holiday.

In the Philippines, people crowded streets and parks in the morning to pray together in Manila and Quezon City.

Similar Eid scenes played out in other parts of the world including Yemen, the Netherlands and Afghanistan.