Malawi's Solidarity `Eid

By Mallick Mnela, IOL Correspondent

BLANTYRE — The celebration of `Eid Al-Fitr in Malawi is all about social cohesion, with Muslims sharing `Eid’s joyous spirit with the poor and the needy through charity and Zakat Al-Fitr.

"Sharing is central to this celebration," Sheikh Ishmael Yahya, a Muslim leader from Dedza district in central Malawi, told IslamOnline.net.

"It is a time to give in charity to those in need."


Just like other Muslim communities around the world, Malawi Muslims start their celebrations with congregational `Eid prayers early in the morning before joining the community for the rest of the day.

In most predominantly Muslim regions, free-for-all food parties are being thrown during `eid days to help cash-strapped Muslims enjoy the festival.

“We realize that not all can afford to celebrate due to financial constraints, hence the need to make a collective party,” sheikh Yahya added.

He believes the tradition of collective `Eid celebration brings about social cohesion in the impoverished country where over 60 percent are the rural poor.

Sheikh Dinala Chabulika, of the Islamic Information Bureau, notes that the free-for-all `Eid parties have long been the tradition in Malawi.

"This is what our fathers used to do back then, celebrating `Eid as a society, not just family and friends."

`Eid Al-Fitr, one of the two main Islamic religious festivals together with `Eid Al-Adha, marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The celebration started in Malawi, where Islam is the second largest faith after Christianity, on Sunday, September 20.

According to state figures, Muslims constitute 12 percent of the entire population, though Muslim organizations put the figure at nearly 40 percent.


Zakah Awareness

Many also expand their social outreach during `Eid through paying Zakat Al-Fitr.

"The richer prefer to distribute more Zakat al-Fitr so that a majority of the poor can partake in the celebrations without a sense of being sidelined," notes Imraan Abdallah, a resident of Blantyre, Malawi’s largest city.

Zakat Al-Fitr is a special charity of Ramadan that is incumbent on every free Muslim who possesses one Sa` (2.176 kilograms or 4.797 pounds) of dates or barley which is not needed as a basic food for himself or his family for the duration of one day and night.

Every free Muslim must pay Zakat Al-Fitr for himself, his wife, children, and servants.

Though it is preferable that zakah is given to the poor in the shape of wheat, rice and grains, some jurists also allow paying in cash to the poor and needy.

It should be given during Ramadan anytime before the `Eid-ul-Fitr prayer.

Muslim leaders affirm that there is an increased awareness of the necessity of paying Zakat Al-Fitr among the community.

In big urban cities like Blantyre, Dedza and Balaka, the practice is now emerging back to the fore after having been abandoned for a while.

Not only the rich, Muslims in rural low-income regions were equally keen this year to pay their Zakat Al-Fitr to ensure that the needy can have a holiday meal and participate in the celebration.

"Those people used to think they were not eligible to give zakat, a myth that we have managed to start breaking," stressed Sheikh Chabulika, of the Islamic Information Bureau.

"We are glad people now understand the need to share during this festival and beyond."