Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

In Jammu and Kashmir, people are preparing to observe Shab-e-Barat on Monday-Tuesday, a day after other Muslims across the Indian sub-continent would say their night-long prayers at mosques and shrines to seek forgiveness from the Almighty.

Shab-e-barat falls on the intervening night of 14th and 15th day of the month of Shaban, the eighth month according to the Islamic (lunar) calendar.

According to Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam, Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir, the Shab-e-Baraat is being observed on Monday night, March 29. He appealed the people for maintaining social distancing during the night-long prayers. Large gatherings are not allowed due to the Covid-19 protocol.

During this holy night Muslims offer special prayers to seek forgiveness from God of the misdeeds (sins) committed. They also visit graveyards after mid-night to offer prayers for their family members, nears and dears who have passed away during the year.

In Kashmir, there is a tradition of people visiting the graveyards in the evenings.

As per the Quran, this is the night of forgiveness and showering of bounties by Allah for the people for the next year. “It marks the night when God seals people’s fate in terms of life and death until the next year. It is also known as the night of forgiveness when Allah showers His mercy and grants forgiveness.”

People in the Muslim majority Kashmir have always observed the night with reverence even during the most disturbing phases of violence in the past 30 years.

The biggest religious congregations in the valley are held at the Hazratbals shrine, Jamia Masjid, Khanqah-e-Moualla and shrines of  Sufi saints, Dastgeer Saheb (Sheikh Syed Abdul Qaadir Jeelani) and Makhdoom Saheb (Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom) in Srinagar apart from other shrines and mosques in the valley.

Children often join their parents in the night-long prayers and they help to serve ‘kehwa’ (Kashmir tea) and refreshments to the devotees. The prayers continue till dusk.

However, in view of the Covid-19 protocol during the last one year, envisaging social distancing as the main preventive measure, the larger gatherings on the occasions like  Shab-e-Meraj, Shab-e-Qadre and Shab-e-Baraat are not held at the major mosques and shrines like the Hazratbal shrine that houses the holy relic of Prophet Mohammad.