Saving Karachi’s oldest Eid Gah
This article was originally published on July 18, 2015.
Akhtar Balouch, also known as the Kiranchi Wala, ventures out to bring back to Dawn.com’s readers the long forgotten heritage of Karachi. Stay tuned to this space for his weekly fascinating findings.
All preparations had been made in the Eid Gah (prayer ground) for Eid day prayers. Attentive bureaucrats are overseeing the prayer arrangements. Prayer time is fast approaching. The head of the country, however, is yet to arrive. All serving eyes longingly share stares, silently asking one another; when will he come?
One low-ranking officer brought the country head’s Aide-de-Camp’s attention to the hour; it was later than late. The ADC did not pay any heed. The low-ranking officer tried yet again to remind the ADC that the time for the prayer had long arrived. The ADC, now with a face that clearly stated he was holding himself from completely losing his cool, gave the time-reminding prayer enthusiast a look of displeasure and told him to tell the prayer leader that the prayer will only start when the sahib is here.
The officer made it a marching task and went straight to the prayer leader.
To the ADC’s displeasure, the officer could again be seen rushing back towards him. It had only been a few minutes. “The prayer leader has refused to delay the prayer, sir,” he said to the ADC. Now, the look that the ADC had on his face was of worry, and not displeasure.
While the ADC was still trying to figure out the next step, he heard the cracking noise of the loudspeakers followed by an announcement asking prayer participants to stand up and form horizontal queues so the prayer could begin. The sitting, waiting audience suddenly rose to righteousness.
The prayer had begun. Everyone was erect, body and soul, in the audience of the one and only God, thanking him for the joyous occasion.
The ADC ran to the central entrance of the Eid Gah only to see that the official vehicle of the country head was parked right outside. He ran to the in-charge of the security detail and asked, “Where is he?” The country head was standing in the last queue, praying like a commoner. The ADC had by now lost it. He could only wait until the prayer ended. So he did.
When the prayer ended, the ADC went to the country head and told him that he had asked the prayer leader to delay the prayer but could not get him to agree. The ADC must have been expecting that the country head would have an outburst and would surely punish the prayer leader for his disobedience. Instead, the country head was all praise for the prayer leader.
Those were the good old days when the country heads prayed with groups of people and the country’s only news channel Pakistan Television would later tell the whole world how the country head had ‘mingled with the crowds’. The crowds, of course, were mostly law enforcement personnel without their uniforms.
It was the first Eid day prayer after Pakistan had come into existence.
The country head who prayed in the last queue as a commoner was none other than Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The prayer leader was Moulana Zahoor-ul-Hasan Dars. In later times, in the same Pakistan, a revolutionary moulavi (Muslim religious leader) – who is quite impressed by a certain Gullu Butt – had delayed the Friday prayer for half an hour so that one Mr Sharif could comfortably stand in the first row.