Imam of Aishbag Eidgah delays Friday Namaz by an Hour on Holi in Lucknow

With the indian festival of holi just being around the corner, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, the Imam of Aishbag Eidgah has appealed that the Friday Namaz will begin an hour later at 1.45 PM. All the mosques in the city were asked to postpone the timing for Friday prayers, in wake of Holi being celebrated the same day.

“…We have shifted the prayer timings by an hour at the Idgah here. It will now be held at 1.45 PM,” Farangi Mahli said.

“The festival of Holi will fall on Friday… thus, I have urged all mosques to postpone the timing of the Friday namaz. Holi is played at its peak between 12 pm to 1 pm, when jumme ki namaz is also held,” he added.

Emphasizing the fact that this festival is much-awaited and comes in a year for the Hindu community, he said “Thus, to ensure that our Hindu brothers can play Holi and we can also offer namaz, we have decided to change the timings. Many people I have spoken to so far, have agreed… as all of us want to ensure that the right message goes out to the community,”

As a matter of fact, the appeal was made by Firangi Mahali right after a day when the Uttar Pradesh chief minister conducted a meeting with the government officials to ensure law and order situation in the state ahead of Holi. The chief minister also asked the officials to ensure peace in the state during the festival.

“In the past, there have been incidents of riots breaking out with the Holi revellers throwing colour on those going to offer namaz…We have taken this step especially keeping in mind the sensitivity in the mixed population areas,” Firangi Mahali said.

“During the Ramazan too, we had made an appeal to three families who had their weddings scheduled at the Ram Lila ground opposite the Idgah to postpone fireworks, DJ and music programme while the “tarabi” was performed between 7.30 PM to 10.30 PM and they obliged willingly,” he pointed out.