Eid Milad un Nabi

Many non-muslim generally get confused with the name of EID in front of all Muslim festivals and wonder how many EIDs Muslims celebrate in a year!

Eid-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Eid), Eid-Uz-Zuha (Bakri Eid) and Eid-E-Milad. I had to explain to a colleague that Eid means 'celebration' or 'joyous occasion' and hence all our festivals are preceded by that word!

Eid-Ul-Fitr is enjoying after a month long of fasting and abstinance and giving alms to the poor by understanding their hunger. It is celebrating of the achievement of enhanced piety.

Eid-Uz-Zuha is about sacrifice and commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for God.This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide.

Eid-e-Milad or Milad un-Nabi is the celebration of the birthday of Muhammad (PBUH), the final prophet of Islam.

Today is Eid-e-Milad. Sweets are made the night before and distributed. The mosques are lit up and so are the houses. On this 'mubarak' occasion, I'd like to share a Naat written by my Dad in Urdu. He sent it to us and his friends in messages on our mobiles in six parts beginning from yesterday night. A Naat is a poetry written in praise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

A Naath

by Abdulrahman U Shaikh

Mubarak ho jahaan waalon

Muhammad Mustafa aaye,

Jahaan mein noor phaylaane

Habib-e-Kibriya aaye.

Zamin se aasmano tak

sada-e-marhaba goonji,

Falak roshan hua dunya mein

ab qairulwara aaye.

Muhammad ka farishtey bhi

adab se naam lete hain,

Nabiyon ke woh hain sardar

Khatm-ul-Anbiya aaye.

Rasulallah ko aye mominon

ummat bahut hai pyari,

Hamare rehnuma aaye

Haamare qairkhwa aaye.

Shafaa-at ka liya hai

Aap ne Allah se waada;

Pilane ke liye kausar

Muhammad Mustafa aaye.

Huzur tashreef laaye

Rahmatul-lil-Aalameen ban kar,

Kaho taazeem se Salle Ala

Salle Ala aaye