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Muslims in Bhopal offer special prayers for early rains Bhopal:
Muslims in Bhopal offered Namaaz-e-Istasqa (Namaaz to ask for rain) as most of
northern India reeled under drought-like situation due to delayed monsoon. Thousands
of Muslims gathered at city's Eidgah (an open-air mosque) and offered special
prayers seeking early rains. "Our sins have risen...everyone is indulged in wrong
and satanic activities, somebody is involved in gambling, another indulges in
prostitution...none is giving 'Zakat' (a small percentage of savings as alms or
charity that Muslims give)...everyone is running after the materialistic world...in
this special prayer we have asked the Almighty to forgive us for our sins and
bless us with rain," said Qazi Ameerullah, a Muslim cleric. The delay in the arrival
of monsoon is becoming a cause of concern for the masses especially farmers, as
nearly two-thirds of agriculture depends on the rains and two-thirds of the population
is dependent on agriculture. The monsoon is crucial for summer-sown crops such
as rice, soybean, sugarcane and cotton. With only 40 percent of farmland irrigated,
most of countries small farmers rely on the monsoon to water their crops. The
Meteorological Department has said that the total rainfall from the crucial June-September
monsoon would be 93 percent of the long-term average, coming in below normal for
the first time in four years. -June
27, 2009 |
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