**Ganesh puja in a mosque
** By: Agencies
September 13, 2005
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bhubaneswar: Lord Ganesh is no longer a Hindu deity in Orissa. A mosque-like structure has been constructed as a marquee at a puja pandal and the Quran has been chanted during the procession for immersion of the idol. This particular Ganesh puja was celebrated for 20 days!
The Orissa Muslims have been celebrating Ganesh puja for over 10 years in Bhubaneswar, in a rare show of communal amity and fraternal between Hindus and Muslims.
A group of Muslims, mostly fishermen, have been organising prayers for Lord Ganesha. They have formed a Jawan Matsya Byabasayi Sangha Puja Committee and have been performing this prayer ritual for the last 12 years.
Local Hindus help them in the celebration. There are a few differences in the manner in which the puja is conducted. While the Ganesh idol is immersed on the same or next day as a practice in other places, the Muslims continue the festivities for 20 days. And during the immersion procession some lines from the Quran are chanted and prayers held for about two hours.
“We perform all the Hindu rituals while the god is on marquee,” revealed Abid Hussain, a functionary of the Puja committee.
This year’s Ganesh festival has a 40 ft marquee complete with tombs and minarets. Committee members, all Muslims clad in ‘roza’ (period of fasting) dresses, have been chanting Ganesha chants every day and distributing prasad made of coconut, milk and paneer to visitors.
Muslims and Hindus in Orissa have always set examples of brotherhood. Muslims of Narayanpur village in western Orissa organise the Jagannath Rath Yatra and Hindus in Sambalpur in western Orissa take out ‘tazia’ processions during Muharram.
On the contrary Funguy, the fatwa givers probably realized that your god is my god and my god is yours. Now they need to revoke the fatwa on Sania and root her on like human beings.
Well they think they are muslims…you will have to just live with that. Sure it might burn you up, but sometimes light does shine through the haze of Dogma. Jai Allahki!! :k:
**2:20 **The lightning all but snatches away their sight; every time the light (Helps) them, they walk therein, and when the darkness grows on them, they stand still. And if Allah willed, He could take away their faculty of hearing and seeing; for Allah hath power over all things.
When the matter is in front of you to weigh in the Quran and Sunnah, you tell me, does this act really require a scholar to tell you that it’s nonsense?
jahaalat ka koyee ilaaj nahin....
maybe the indian Islami jamaat needs to send down some people to the area to teach the muslims that involving in such idol-worship celebrations is strictly forbidden in Islam...
and NO, muslims do not accept elephants, monkeys and cows to be their gods, they never have and they never will....
^ it’s too late for that. Bon homie and amity among people is growing..there is nothing you can do about it but burn burn burn…
As far as the last statement of yours…Muslims in general cannot differentiate between sprituality and dogma, they are learning but it will take time. God is evrywere…even in monkeys, elephants and cows and in you, in the sky, everywhere… ephemeral..it’s beautiful and these muslims have realized that. Jai Allah Ki
^
matty dear ur last part is only hindu belief and the only muslims who believe (or can believe)in it r those who want to save themselves from incidents like gujrat (althuogh the hindus there did not even spare those hypocrites who used to bow down before their idols, but thats a different story)....
Muslims do not hold the belief that God is everywhere or found in everything. According to the Sunni Muslim belief, Allah (SWT) is high above the heaven on His (SWT) Throne in a manner that fits His (SWT) Majesty and no one has the exact knowledge about it except for Allah (SWT).
what does this have to do with Gujrat? Should I bring in the suicide bombings or planes being flown into skyscrapers?
Sadiyah, since you think no one has that knowledge besides allah mian, then why not let allah mian decide whether they are wrong or right. I havea sneaking suspicion that allah mian is a lot more tolerant being and not this petulant childlike entity as thought of by the fundo lot.
So Sunnis believe that God is in heaven sitting on a throne. Quite a humanly charateristic for something that has no shape or form.
The Throne is not literal as envisioned by humans and He is not in Heaven...FYI in case you get into an argument with a Muslim and your knowledge shines through...
