ISIL Militants Warn Muslims to Avoid Eid al-Fitr Prayers in Iraq
KABUL: (Middle East Press) The Islamic state (ISIL) militants group have reportedly warned the residents in northern Iraqi city of Mosul from performing prayers for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan (Muslim Fasting).
According to Ismat Rajab, an official with Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on Friday that the terrorist group has banned the performance of Eid al-Fitr prayers.
The militant group has described the practice as un-Islamic, claiming that the Eid prayer has never been “originally an Islamic practice” in the early Islamic period, Rajab noted.
The first day of the month of Shawwal on the lunar calendar is called Eid al-Fitr, which is decided when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. During the Eid, Muslims attend public prayers, listen to sermons and give Zakat al-Fitr or donations to the poor.
Mosul, the largest city under the ISIL control, had a population of around two million before the Takfiris invaded it last year. The imposition of Takfiri rules by the militant groups has sparked fears in the troubled city, which still has a large civilian population unlike most Iraqi cites taken over by ISIL.
