Milad day starts with fireworks

Saturday, February 27, 2010 By By Asim Hussain

LAHORE Details: THE faithful will celebrate Eid Miladun Nabi on Saturday (today). Religious organisations have completed preparations to celebrate the great occasion with traditional religious spirit and zeal. Hundreds of processions and Seerat conferences will be held all over the country to mark the auspicious day. This year, the day is again being observed as Namoos-e-Risalat Day, (Prophet's honor day) to counter conspiracies to commit blasphemy especially by publishing of profane sketches by the European press. Tehrik Hurmat-e-Rasool (THR), a platform of over two dozen religious organisations striving to counter western blasphemy attempts, has appealed to believers to devote extra effort to highlight the glorious Seerat of the Prophet (SAW) in order to expose the western hatred of Islam and its Prophet (SAW). The THR observed Friday as protest day against western media blasphemy, the recent blasphemy against Jesus Christ in India, and biased sentencing of Dr Aafia Siddiqi by a US court. In Lahore, the central Eid-e-Milad in Nabi procession will be held at Railway Station and participants will march upto Data Darbar. Dozens of smaller processions from various parts of the city will merge with the central procession en route to Data Darbar. Participants in the procession will be showered with rose petals and rose water from aeroplanes. Before the start of the procession, a ceremony will be held which would be inaugurated by procession leader Malik Aftab Rabbani and PPP Senator Jahangir Badar. Guests would include former judges of Lahore High Court, Dr Munir Mughal and Akram Baitu, Senator Ishaq Dar, Evacuee Trust Property Board Chairamn Asif Hashmi, provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Khawaja Saad Rafiq and others. Preparations concluded on Friday night with the taking out of a torch bearers procession under the aegis of Central Milad Committee from Data Darbar. Participants were led by Mukhtar Ashraf Rizvi, and scores of other religious leaders including Pir Masood Rizvi, Engr Salimullah Khan, Mustafa Ashraf Rizvi, Shahid Gardezi, Prof Salimullah Awaisi, Maulana Tahri Tabassum, Razaul Mustafa, Naeem Arif Noori and others. Participants riding vehicles and motorbikes, and on foot, marched on the Mall road upto the Regal Chowk reciting Durood and Naats, paying homage to the most sacred and remarkable personality of the entire world history. Most city mosques and important buildings have been decorated with lightings, flower beads and buntings, while others will be decorated until late Monday night. Children were busy building clay models of the Makkah mountains where the Holy Prophet (SAW) was bestowed with prophethood. A meeting of the central Milad Committee was held Friday presided over by its chairman Malik Aftab Rabbani which reviewed preparations for the glorious day. The meeting decided to maintain sanctity of the occasion and check all un-Islamic practices so that religious sentiments of Muslims should not be hurt. The day will begin with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital and 21-gun salute in provincial capitals while special prayers will be offered for the security, solidarity and prosperity of the country in particular and Muslim Ummah in general. It will be a public holiday and all offices and business centres will be closed. The electronic and print media will highlight the significance of the day by broadcasting special programmes and brining out special supplements. Apart from central procession, a number of gatherings for Naat Khwani, Qirat, Qawwali and Naatia Mushaairas will be held across the country. Religious scholars and Ulema in their special sermons will highlight the significance of the occasion and ask the people to follow the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAW) to achieve success in life and hereafter. They will condemn the western hatred against the Holy Prophet (SAW) which has recently resulted into meanest tactics in shape of blasphemous caricatures despite worldwide Muslim protests and anger. Groups of volunteers and market committees will decorate markets/mohallas/houses and surroundings with illuminations, coloured flower ropes, buntings, chandeliers and ribbons. Many organisations will hold competitions among people for best decorated mohallah and street. Children and youth will build clay replica of desert and mountains of the Arab peninsula where the divine message was first dawned on the Prophet (SAW). Special security arrangements have been made by the district administration to maintain law and order on the occasion and along the route of the procession. The government has issued directives to beef up security all over the country especially along the route of procession to counter enemy designs. Volunteers of bomb disposal squad and ambulance units will remain on stand by to meet any emergency while units of Rangers and reserve police will also be deployed on sensitive areas. On the eve of Miladun Nabi (SAW) a grand Milad Conference was held by Tehrik Minhajul Quran (TMQ) which was chaired by its chief Dr Tahirul Qadri. Noted scholars and Naat Khwans from across the country participated in the conference. Thousands of people from all over the country also attended. Participants were offered dinner for which 1,000 goats were slaughtered. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tahirul Qadri highlighted the significance of the occasion for the promotion of Islamic values and message of love, justice and peace. He lashed out against enemies of Islam in the western world busy committing blasphemies. He also criticized the US for victimising Islam by tagging it with the term terrorism whereas the US itself was the biggest terrorist in the world. Another Milad Conference was held at Baba ground behind civil secretariat by Dawat-e-Islami where noted Qaris, Naat Khwans and scholars gathered from all over the country to pay homage to the Holy Prophet (SAW).