By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: Faced with a severe crisis due to the failure of monsoon, the people from different religious faiths in Andhra Pradesh were offering special prayers to seek divine help to invoke the rains.
Thousands of Muslim men, women and children- some of them accompanied by their cattle- gathered at the sprawling Mir Alam Idgah in Hyderabad on Sunday and offered “Namaz-e-Istesqa” for the rains.
Hundreds of Muslims offering Namaz-E_ Istesqa at Idgaah Mir Alam Hyderabad for Rain. Some of them crying during the Namaz
The prayers were organized jointly by the minority welfare department and several religious organizations of Muslim community and the Namaz was led by prominent religious scholars Moulana Mufti Khaleel Ahmad, head of Jamia Nizamia.
The prayers had touch of poignancy as the faithful broke down during the invocation as the Imam prayed for rains and mercy of God. Addressing the gathering, which include the state minister for minority welfare Syed Ahmadullah and member of Lok Sabha from Hyderabad and MIM President Asauddin Owaisi, Maulana Khaleel Ahmad said that the failure of monsoon and lack of rains was punishment of God meted out for the sinful life of the people.
“The time has come for each of us to confess our sins and seek Allah’s forgiveness and grace”, he said tearfully as participants followed with “Amen”.
Heads of several Muslim organizations had given call to the people to perform special prayers. They include Jamat-e-Islami, Tameer-e-Millat, Amarate Millate Islamia, Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadees, and several religious educational institutions.
Thousands of people had started gathering from the morning hours for the unusual prayers at 11 am. Another unique feature of the prayers was that the people extended their hands with palms facing the earth in contrast to the normal prayers when they raise their hands with palms upwards towards the sky.
“This is to indicate that we don’t have any thing in our hand and every thing is now in the hands of Allah”, said one of the participants.
During the first four weeks of monsoon, Hyderabad city and its surroundings have hardly got any rains. The state as a whole has recorded a deficit of 49% in the rainfall as the monsoon was experiencing a lull.
Special prayers were being offered by the people of different faiths after the recent appeal of the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. While the major temple at Kachiguda organized Varuna Yagam in the city two days ago, about thousand temples under the Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanam organized similar prayers across the state.
The TTD will be organizing the special Varuna Yagam prayers in Hyderabad on July 2 to seek divine help.