Amid controversy over offering Jumma Namaz (Friday prayers) at open spaces in Gurugram, more support and private spaces were offered to the Muslim community through social media platforms on Thursday. Earlier, a local resident in Sector 12A offered his shop, and the Sikh community offered to allow prayers at a gurdwara.
“More and more people are now coming forward on social media to offer spaces for Friday prayers. We are looking into their offers and their suitability. This is a welcome gesture. It sends a huge message that, on one hand, there are people claiming to represent a community and spreading hatred in the name of religion, and on the other, extending a helping hand,” said Altaf Ahmed, co-founder Said, Gurgaon Muslim Council.
Prominent local voices advocating for communal harmony include senior journalist Rahul Dev, who said that he would have preferred to give his home for the Friday prayers, but lived far away from the designated places for Friday prayers. “If namaz is offered inside, my house will be cleaned. The cause and means of the opposition causes great pain,” Mr Dev tweeted. He said that it was the responsibility of the administration to deal with the traffic issues, if any, in offering prayers in the open, and religious organizations had no role in it.
Later in the day, Mr. Ahmed, along with other members of the community, visited one of the gurdwaras run by the Sri Guru Singh Sabha in the city’s Sadar area. Mr Ahmed said the Jumma Namaz this Friday coincided with the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, and thus only a symbolic prayer could be held. “This is a welcome gesture by the Sikh community but is not a solution to the controversy over offering prayers in the open. We need to accommodate a large population of Muslims and for this there is a need for more mosques,” Mr. Ahmed said.
Sher Dil Sidhu, president of Shri Guru Singh Sabha, said that the motive behind the resolution was to give a message of communal harmony. The Sabha manages five Gurdwaras in Gurugram.
Sector 12A resident Akshay Yadav said this is not the first time he had offered his premises for namaz, and he allowed his tenant and his friends to offer namaz at his shop in the month of Ramzan four years ago Was.
“In 2005, we also financed the marriage of our domestic help, a Muslim girl. I am very happy to know that now more and more people are coming forward to support their Muslim brothers. It is wrong to paint the whole community with the same color and hate them for some reason. I hope my small step will help in promoting communal harmony between the two communities,” said Mr. Yadav, who runs a wildlife tourism business.
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