Muslims in Seychelles celebrate Eid-Ul-Fitr |06 June 2019

Imam Elsayed Mohamed Elmarghani leading prayers at the Stad Linite yesterday

 Nearly two thousand Muslims – men and women – including foreign workers currently employed in Seychelles, congregated yesterday morning at the Stad Linite for prayers marking the end of this year’s Ramadhan.

For the past month, Muslims have been fasting – abstaining from all food and drinks among other things – from dawn until sunset.

Yesterday’s Eid prayers were led by a visiting Egyptian Imam, Elsayed Mohamed Elmarghani, who was present for the occasion, courtesy of the UAE government. The Eid Khutba (sermon) was delivered by a Seychellois Imam, Ibrahim Lebon.

In his sermon, Imam Lebon reiterated the peaceful true nature of Islam and appealed to his audience to reject all forms of extremist ideologies.

He warned that we should never subscribe to or support extremism as manifested in the ideologies of organisations such as ISIS and Al Qaida.

Imam Lebon insisted that such organisations were out of the fold of Islam and that true Muslims should never adopt or defend the abhorrent actions of such entities which only lead to destruction and loss of innocent lives – totally contrary to the true principles of Islamic teachings and values that Muslims are required to uphold.

“It was a good sermon with a lot of morals which urge that we love one another and stay away from extremism and as a young person I always advocate against violence,” said 16-year-old Said Musaid Edmond.

“Prophet Mohamed does not teach us violence but he said we have to live in harmony in the community. Most of us Muslims in Seychelles have families in other religions and Islam has never taught us to go and destroy them because of their beliefs. You know why, because in prophet Mohamed’s time there were other religions and he didn’t destroy them. What we do is we go and socialise with them and share our beliefs. This is what our Islam is about,” said Percy Riaze.

Imam Lebon also reminded those assembled that the last Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH) had advised us to treat our women with respect and dignity.

He remarked that Almighty God created the first woman from the rib of a man. He went on to say that a rib is curved and if you try to make it straight, it would break – an analogical reference to divorce.

Eid Prayers were also offered on Praslin and La Digue and even on Desroches where the prayers were led by the Imam of the Central Mosque in Victoria, Ahsan Haleem, who had travelled there at the invitation of the 15-strong Muslim community presently residing there.

In an exclusive interview with Seychelles NATION immediately after the prayers on Mahé, the President of the Islamic Society of Seychelles, Ibrahim Afif, made special reference to the Eid greetings the Society had received from the head of State, President Danny Faure.

In a message addressed to the Muslim community of Seychelles, President Faure expressed his appreciation for its contribution to the development of positive moral and spiritual values which he said were so vital to the future of not just our country, but indeed the world.

The President offered all Muslims in Seychelles and around the world his best wishes for a happy and blessed Eid-ul-Fitr.

Mr Afif expressed his gratitude to the government and in particular, the National Sports Council, for permitting the use of the Stad Linite playing field as the prayer venue.

“This ensured that we could all congregate in one area out of Central Victoria, without adding to the challenges of early morning traffic congestion or requiring the temporary closure of a portion of Victoria thus frustrating motorists and pedestrians alike,” Mr Afif stated.

Asked why Muslims in Seychelles celebrated Eid yesterday, when many Arab countries observed Eid on Tuesday, Mr Afif was reluctant to be drawn into the debate. The Islamic Society President said he was aware the issue had created a controversy among Muslims throughout the world. He explained that the Festival of Eid-ul-Fitr begins when scholars sight the new crescent moon.

“The sunset in Seychelles on Monday evening was at 6:13 and the moonset was at 6:20. It was impossible – even if the heavy cloud cover had not been present – to sight the moon with the naked eye. Given all the logistics involved in preparing for the prayers, we had to make a decision and we took into account that countries whose time zones are ahead of us had not sighted the moon. Pakistan, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (the country with the largest Muslim population) had already announced that they would celebrate on Wednesday.

“I know many countries of East Africa with the exception of Uganda celebrated Eid today (Wednesday),” Mr Afif said.

It is also true that many countries followed Saudi Arabia which claimed sighting the new moon after sunset on Monday. The claim has been contested by experts who refer to astronomical data which suggests that it would have been nearly impossible to observe the new moon from almost anywhere on earth on Monday evening. Saudi Arabia’s neighbour, Egypt, said it was unable to sight the moon and urged Muslims to continue fasting for an extra day, thus completing the maximum thirty days in a lunar month,” Mr Afif clarified.

Mr Afif extended Eid greetings to all Muslims at home and abroad and concluded with the traditional salutation for the occasion ‘Eid Mubarak!’