By Majid Nabi
Srinagar- As unseasonal rains coupled with hailstorm and flash-floods continue to ravage agriculture and horticulture crops in the Valley, people from different walks of life on Thursday flocked a popular shrine in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and offered special prayers to seek almighty’s mercy for improvement in weather.
Keeping their age-old religious practice alive, faithful from many villages of Bijbehara including Mattan, Nanil, Kanelwan, Posh Kriri, Khiram and Akura made their way to Asar Shareef Khiram.
The special prayers were held after Zuhr (afternoon) prayers in the revered shrine with faithful amid moist eyes raising their hands in supplication, seeking almighty’s intervention for rains to stop.
Taj-ud-din, a devotee from Sirhama said hundreds of people including men, women and children participated in the special prayers which were held to seek forgiveness from the Almighty.
“We pray to Allah to have mercy on us and stop the rain. Our crops worth lakhs have been destroyed and we cannot take this financial stress anymore. We pray to Allah to save us and our property, have mercy on all of us,” he said, adding, we hope that Allah will accept our prayers.
Hilal Ahmad Bhat, another devotee said the hailstorm damaged all agriculture and horticulture crops in his village and that the people thronged the shrine to seek Allah’s forgiveness.
He said the faithful thronged the shrine with hope that their prayers would be accepted. Bhat said the prayers were organized after proper permission from the district administration.
“Obur Gow Fanah Ya Sheikh Sanah, Khaer Qabool Balayi Door, Khodaya Taaph Kar Saaf Aab Khaloy, were the catchphrases kids would yell, while soliciting funds from people to prepare “Sasras” in my childhood days,” recalled renowned poet and historian Zareef Ahmad Zareef, while sharing his childhood memories with Kashmir Observer.
Zareef said people in hordes used to flock historic Eidgah in the old city and Makhdoom Sahab shrine to offer Nawafil prayers to seek Allah’s mercy for improvement in weather.
“On reaching Eidgah, people used to offer Salat-ul-Istigfar for the rains to stop. We used to solicit funds from people living in adjoining areas and then organized community kitchens, arrange rice and other ingredients to prepare Tehri (turmeric-rice) by Kashmiri cook,” he added.
Meanwhile special prayers were also held in several mosques in the old city while people could be seen preparing and distributing yellow rice, locally known as Tehri on roads.
At Khanyar near the shrine of 11th century Sufi saint, Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA), popularly known as Dastgeer Sahib (RA), locals prepared ‘Tehri’ (a mix of rice and mutton) as an offering and distributed it among the people.
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