Mass Iftaari: Reaching Out for Interfaith-Harmony

News Desk

Peshawar: Rawandar Singh, a 39-year-old Sikh, is smiling in the spirit of sharing and compassion as he reaches out to the fasting Muslims with dates and ‘pakora’ for iftaar when returning home from his shop in Hashtnagri.

Rawandar Singh, wearing the traditional turban, has been distributing packets of dates and other edible items among the fasting peshawarties in Hashtnagri bazaar since 2012. His father, Awtah Singh, started the noble practice and passed it on to his son. “I feel inner peace and satisfaction while doing the noble practice on all 30 days of the month.”

”The soothing moments of distributing iftaar’s items, including dates, pakora, jalebi, and other dishes, are still alive as fresh as today when I keenly observe my late father Awtah Singh handing over packets of iftaar food to Muslim brothers all along the way from Hastnagri to Mohalla Jogan Ramdas in interior city. Rawandar Singh said,  “I strongly believe in interfaith harmony, love, and brotherhood. The distribution of food in Ramazan is our mark of respect and admiration for our fasting Muslims’ brothers, besides giving us inner peace and satisfaction.” Rawandar, who is also helped by his son in dolling out dates and pakoras,.

Dewa Singh and his son Tajindar Singh, who are associated with the telecommunication business in Hashtnagri Peshawar, said that inviting people of different faiths to iftaar parties sends a strong message of love, brotherhood, and friendship to the whole world.

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“Without winning hearts and minds, we can’t come closer to each other and could not develop a society whose inhabitants enjoy equal rights and respect for each other’s beliefs,” they said.

“Arranging iftaar parties and Ramzan camps for Muslims is not a new practice for us. Our forefathers did the same thing to express warmth, love and friendship to our Muslim brothers of Peshawar during Ramazan,”

They serve Iftar’s foods to over dozens of fasting persons on a daily basis and vowed to continue to do so in the remaining days of the month.

Roadside mass iftaar parties are being seen at Qisa Khwani, University Road, Lady Reading Hospital, Takhto Jumat Cantonment, and Ramadas, where philanthropists invite people of different faiths in an environment of sharing, care, and friendship.

At the mass iftaar parties, long sheets filled with dates, pakora, jalebi snacks, fruits, dahe bhalay, kacalo, rice, meat, paye, chapply kabab, polao, and sweet beverages get fully occupied by the passersby, laborers and people of different schools of thought.

Haroon Sarbdayal, a representative of the Hindu community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a founding member of the Pakistan Council of World Religions, said that all prophets and founders of all religions had promoted peace, forgiveness, patience, love, and tolerance through their universal teachings, actions, and deeds.

“We need to promote acceptance along with tolerance because the former is more effective in establishing durable peace, patience, and pluralism in society.” He said Ramazan was the month of tolerance and patience in which Hindu community has started arranging iftaar parties for Muslim brothers in the province.

In Peshawar, he said, a grand iftaar party would be arranged in the last Ashra of Ramazan, where leaders of all religions would be invited. He said such noble practices were already being practiced in Sindh. Sarbdayal said misperceptions among followers of different faiths could be removed by enhancing interaction and dialogue among them. He suggested the establishment of common study centers for followers of all religions where they could interact and understand each other’s beliefs and organize iftaar parties to bring people closer.

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Highly appreciating the minority’s” goodwill gestures of arranging iftaar parties and “iftaar dastarkhwans”, he said these noble practices bring Muslims and minorities closer and enhance their understanding of each other’s” faiths.

Qibla Ayaz, Chairman of Pakistan Council of Islamic Ideology (CCI) and the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peshawar, said that interfaith harmony means bringing peace and tranquilly among people through positivity and mutual coexistence.

He said inviting each other for iftaar parties cements bonds of love, friendship, and brotherhood among people of all religions, including Islam and Christianity.

He said, “The Madina Charter had provided complete and unprecedented religious freedoms to the followers of all religions, and there was a need of constant debate and discussion on its different clauses and articles for education to ensure lasting peace and harmony in the world.”

Charity giving is an important component of Islam, said Qibla Ayaz. It was more significant in Ramazan, and people should give it to reputable charity organizations with excellent people’s service and clean accounting records.  He said a list of reputable charity organizations was available on the NECTA website, adding that extra care should be taken by people so that their charity can’t go into the wrong hands.

The charitable initiatives, such as arranging mass iftaar parties and Ramzan camps, will not only strengthen the bonds of love and friendship but will also help bring people closer, he added.

The feature was published on the APP website, a state-run news agency, on April 15. It has been reproduced by ThePenpk.com