The holy Shab-e-Barat, known as the night of fortune, will be observed across the country on Tuesday night with due religious fervour and devotion.
The Muslim devotees would spend the night at mosques and homes offering prayers, reciting from the holy Quran and seeking blessings to Allah for long life, peace, progress and happiness for themselves, their families, relatives and friends as well as the nation and the Muslim Ummah. President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday greeted all Muslims of Bangladesh and elsewhere across the world on the occasion of the holy Shab-e-Barat. In separate messages, they prayed for peace, progress and prosperity of the nation as well as the Muslim Ummah of the whole world. Muslims consider Shab-e-Barat as one of the three most sacred nights and believe that on this night Almighty Allah decides the fate of all human beings fixing their ‘rizq’ (livelihood) for the next year.
On the night, the devotees across the country would visit graves and pray for their beloved ones seeking their eternal peace. Many will also visit mazars, shrines of saints all over the country. Many families will prepare traditional foods like handmade rice-bread with beef and halua (a kind of desert made usually from semolina, carrot, chickpea or papaya) both at rural and urban areas across the country on the occasion.
A good number of Muslims will observe fast on the following day. They will distribute food and sweets among the neighbours and the poor. Besides, foods and money will be distributed among the destitute on the occasion. To mark the holy occasion, the Islamic Foundation (IF) has chalked out nightlong elaborate programmes at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.
The programmes include recitation from the holy Quran, hamd-nath, waz-mahfil, milad, Qiyam and special munajat. Pesh imam of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque Mawlana Muhiuddin Quashem will present sermons highlighting the significance of Shab-e-Barat at 7.25 pm today.
Noted Islamic scholar Maulana Habibur Rahman Juktibadi will present sermons on the importance of ibadat and doa at 9 pm. Principal of Jamia Arabiyah, Mirpur, Mawlana Syed Wahiduzzaman will narrate the importance of holy night and Ramadan at 11 pm. Subsequently, the importance and advantage of ‘zikr’ and tahajjut will also be discussed at the mosque. The nightlong programmes will end following the akheri munajat (final prayers) after Fazr prayers.
Senior Pesh Imam of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque Hafez Maulana Muhammad Mizanur Rahman will administer the final munajat. The day after Tuesday will be the national holiday for the Shab-e-Barat. Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar, and private television channels and radio stations will broadcast special programmes on the occasion.
