Millions of Muslims are celebrating the Eid al-Fitr festival that ends the fasting month of Ramadan, by participating in feasts, family reunions and other festivities.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, worshippers packed into mosques before dawn Sunday, the first day of the festival. Thousands attended prayers at Jakarta’s Al Azhar mosque.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai attended Eid prayers at the presidential palace mosque in Kabul. In a speech to his war-torn nation, he said the enemies of Islam “continued to oppress” the Afghan people by carrying out attacks during Ramadan. He urged Taliban insurgent leaders to declare whether or not they support acts of violence committed in their name and warned that the perpetrators will one day be held accountable.
Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region marked Eid by visiting the tombs of relatives and leaving offerings of food after morning prayers. Xinjiang is home to Turkic-speaking minority Muslim Uighurs, many of whom accuse China’s leaders of religious persecution.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted a regional ethnic affairs official Liu Zhenqiang as saying Ramadan passed peacefully in Xinjiang. China has an estimated 20 million Muslims.
Source: GhanaWeb
