Arab Muslims pray for peace on Eid al-Fitr
Culture |
Across Arab world, Muslims mark Eid al-Fitr holiday with prayers for peace in crisis-wracked region
Muslims converged on mosques throughout the crisis-wracked Arab world Friday to mark the Eid al-Fitr -- the three-day festival that follows the fasting month of Ramadan -- with prayers for peace in their respective countries.
In East Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinian Muslims performed Eid prayers at the iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the mosques imam delivered a khutba (sermon) in which he called for the release of the thousands of Palestinian political detainees languishing in Israeli prisons.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, for his part, voiced his wish to see the end of "the Israeli occupation, Israeli settlements [built illegally on Palestinian land] and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
In Lebanon, meanwhile, Muslims converged on the nations mosques to perform Eid prayers amid tight security.
Sheikh Abdullatif Darya, the grand mufti for Lebanese Sunni Muslims, made an appeal for national unity, warning of the countrys "deteriorating political situation" as a result of "the absence of functioning state institutions".
In Jordan, too, thousands of Muslims gathered for Eid prayers in capital Amman, where an imam prayed for "the victory of the Syrian revolution" and an end to ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, Egypt, Yemen and Libya.
In Iraq, meanwhile, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi refrained from taking part in Eid celebrations due to the ongoing security crisis caused by the Daesh militant group, which remains in control of large swathes of the country.
Al-Abadi called on government officials to spend the Eid holiday visiting the families of slain and injured security personnel and Iraqis who had been displaced by the countrys ongoing political crises.
Anadolu Agency
In East Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinian Muslims performed Eid prayers at the iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the mosques imam delivered a khutba (sermon) in which he called for the release of the thousands of Palestinian political detainees languishing in Israeli prisons.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, for his part, voiced his wish to see the end of "the Israeli occupation, Israeli settlements [built illegally on Palestinian land] and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
In Lebanon, meanwhile, Muslims converged on the nations mosques to perform Eid prayers amid tight security.
Sheikh Abdullatif Darya, the grand mufti for Lebanese Sunni Muslims, made an appeal for national unity, warning of the countrys "deteriorating political situation" as a result of "the absence of functioning state institutions".
In Jordan, too, thousands of Muslims gathered for Eid prayers in capital Amman, where an imam prayed for "the victory of the Syrian revolution" and an end to ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, Egypt, Yemen and Libya.
In Iraq, meanwhile, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi refrained from taking part in Eid celebrations due to the ongoing security crisis caused by the Daesh militant group, which remains in control of large swathes of the country.
Al-Abadi called on government officials to spend the Eid holiday visiting the families of slain and injured security personnel and Iraqis who had been displaced by the countrys ongoing political crises.
Anadolu Agency
