Auspicious Days: Juma-tul-Vida, Diwali, and Eid

Adil Najam

This Friday was Juma-tul-Vida (the last Friday in Ramzan), Diwali celebrations are taking place as I write this, and Eid-ul-Fitr is likely to be on Monday (plus or minus a day or so).

These are auspicious and spiritually significant days. By way of conveying our choicest greetings to our readers on these occasions, we wanted to share these two wonderful photogrpahs with you.

The first photograph is of a Diwali lamp being lit in Krishna Mandir in Saddar, Rawalpindi (here; Update: pictures of Diwali Dandia in Karachi here). Similar celebrations are also happening elsewhere in Pakistan (here), as across the world. I remember the first Diwali celebration I ever attended was in the Temple in Lalkurti, Rawalpindi. Later, I attended Diwali celebrations in Karachi and near Tando Allah Yar in Sindh. As someone who takes the promise imbedded in the white part of Pakistan’s flag as being absolutely sacred I am very happy to write today about this joyous festival rather than the more worrisome developments we have written about before (here and here).

The second is of Juma-tul-Vida prayers at the historic Wazir Khan mosque in the heart of old Lahore. Like Fawad Zakariya (here), I too like this mosque immensely: for its architecture, for its presence as an oasis in the middle of purana Lahore, and for the spiritual sense one feels in it. The Badshahi mosque also has an overpowering sense of spirituality – as do so many places of worship – but I have been particularly fond of this mosque; moreover, I think this photograph does justice to the structure as well as to the occasion.