Religious places including mosques have been closed for over a month now. And with clerics advising all to stay home and social distancing becoming the norm, people are unable to get together for prayers and Iftar, a ritual of breaking fast every evening, that are a key part of Islam's holiest month.
Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan, will be celebrated across the country on Saturday.
Syed Ahmed Bukhari, whose status as Imam of Jama Masjid was questioned by the Delhi Wakf Board, was on Thursday directed by the Delhi High Court to submit a statement of accounts of the last 30 years to the Board.
The Imam has convened a National Conference of Muslims in New Delhi on Saturday, which is being attended by over 300 top Muslim clerics, scholars and religious heads.
Many faithful preferred offering 'namaaz' at their homes than visiting mosques.
The scare of the pandemic, lockdown restrictions, as well as mass exodus of migrants from the city have deprived Eid of the usual festivity.
Bukhari had expressed strong resentment and sought to know why Hazare and his campaign managers had not done more to involve Muslims in their anti-graft movement.
Certain religious leaders on Thursday strongly disapproved of the Delhi High Court judgment which legalised gay sex among consenting adults."It is absolutely wrong to legalise homosexuality. We will not accept any such law," said Jama Masjid Imam Ahmed Bukhari. He also critcised the government for trying to amend the Indian Penal Code to scrap Section 377 that criminalises homosexuality.
Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds damaged many cars, brought traffic to a grinding halt, left trees uprooted and led to power outages in various parts of the capital on Monday.
Bukhari also backs Trinamool Congress but says no support to SP and BSP. Kavita Chowdhury reports.
Well-known Islamic scholar and cleric Maulana Salman Hussain Nadwi is under fire from different quarters for attempting to run down the Imam of the Islamic world's most revered Mecca mosque.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday received a shot in the arm when Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari on Monday lauded her work for the minorities in West Bengal, and said she would make a better prime minister for secular India than others.
A delegation of Muslim leaders led by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi during which she asked them to ensure that secular votes did not split in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
With markets closed and meat supply hit due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, Muslims are in for a Ramzan without their favourite kebabs and other chicken and mutton dishes.
The BSP, which fielded nearly 100 Muslim candidates, won only four out of the 77 assembly seats dominated by Muslim voters.
Muslims have been given tickets in 36 of the 100 seats.
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
In a first of its kind in Lok Sabha polls, a "recorded video speech" of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will be shown in "3D" on Monday at 300 places across the country, including 18 in Delhi.
A local court on Wednesday issued arrest warrants against 16 politicians of the the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, besides senior community leaders for allegedly inciting violence through inflammatory speeches in Muzaffarnagar.
A day after Narendra Modi accused her of resorting to "rabid communalism", Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday hit back asking whether someone who "speaks lies" was fit for the PM's post.
Delhi Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari called the killing an "act of cowardice" and "an act against Islam".
In-charges and managements of temples, mosques and gurudwaras in the city said preparations are underway to ensure all safety measures are in place as they throw open their doors for the devotees amid the pandemic.
Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari on Friday declared his support to Congress saying it will "strengthen" secularism and termed communalism as "bigger threat" to the country than corruption.
Syed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, batted support for the AAP but party refused to accept his support.
The rift between Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his party colleague Azam Khan, who also happens to be a prominent minister in the state cabinet, appears to be widening.
Leaders across the political spectrum, social activists and top jurists on Tuesday hailed the landmark Supreme Court verdict banning the practice of instant divorce among Muslims.
Everyone wants a piece of the Taj Mahal, but do they care about the deteriorating condition of India's best-loved monument
Sources in the prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said it was not in favour of filing a review petition and wants the matter to end.
Following are their brief profiles and roles as alleged by the NIA.
Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari and Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri mosque Mufti Mukarram Ahmed also said the moon was sighted and the fasting will start from Saturday. They appealed to Muslims to perform all rituals and prayers at home during Ramzan while adhering to social distancing and lockdown norms.
As the number of cases crossed 2,56,000 with more than 7,100 fatalities, according to Union health ministry figures, and the country made a calibrated exit from the lockdown in non-containment zones, shop shutters in many malls went up for the first time since March 25 but the sprawling retail places were eerily empty.
Rediff.com takes a look at the enthralling spectacle that is the month of Ramazan.
Rediff.com takes a look at the enthralling spectacle that is the month of Ramazan.
In a letter to his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the chief minister declared his intention to commence his yatra, which was put off last month after the open turf war with his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
As India prepares for a calibrated exit from the lockdown by easing more restrictions, 'Unlock-1 -- the first of the three-phase plan for reopening of prohibited activities in non-containment zones with a stringent set of Standard Operating Procedures(SOPs) -- kicks in at a time when the country recorded a daily jump of COVID-19 cases by over 9,000 for the fifth straight day on Sunday.
Both the parties had been banking heavily on the internal feud in the first family of the state
The BJP wants to win a state where it has been out of power for 15 years. The Congress wants to make its mark in a state where it has been a bit player for nearly 30 years. And the BSP wants to recapture power it lost 5 years ago.
'The minorities are determined to prove Modi wrong in 2019, and the only way he can counter their mobilisation against his government is to get a bigger share of the Hindu vote,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson Yogendra Yadav tells Somesh Jha how Delhi has moved beyond Shahi Imam-type politics. Yadav also takes a dig at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and says the AAP had formulated its policies on the streets, unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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