By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Almost 10,000 devout from Shia and Sunni sects offered joint Eid prayers together – for the first time – at the congregation at Jamia Millia Islamia here on the occasion of Eid Ul Fitr on Saturday.
The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat had extended its support for the event.
“We plan to take this forward. From namaz to other humanitarian gestures, we will bridge the gap between the two sects until both the sects are shoulder to shoulder,” Mazin Khan, one of the organisers, told TwoCircles.net.
The extraordinary event held at the Jama Masjid, Jamia Milia Islamia, was part of the ‘Shoulder to Shoulder Movement’, an initiative conceived by a group of friends in Jamia Nagar in the back drop of growing hostility between the two sects in West Asia.
“As everyone knows that ISIS is targeting Shias and their mosques in West Asia, which is very painful to see. So our group of friends conceived this idea to organize joint Eid prayers, in which Muslims from both Sunni and Shia sect will participate,” one of the organisers said.
“The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat helped us in getting the desired contact persons to make this initiative a success. We want to deliver a global message that yes, Shia and Sunni live in harmony and brotherhood,” Khan had told TCN on Friday ahead of the event.
The prayers were held early morning at around 7:30 am.