Like every year, there will be five Eid jamaats (special Eid morning prayer) will be held at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque from 7 am on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr this year. Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh revealed the schedule in a press release on Tuesday. The first Eid jamaat will be held at 7 am and followed by three more at the top of each hour till 10 am. The last one will be at 10:45 am. Eid-ul-Fitr will be held on Saturday or Sunday depending on the sighting on Shawal Moon.    

A four-tier security system has been mounted in Chattogram to ensure the safety of the devotees at Eid congregations on Tuesday. The main and first Eid Jamaat will be held in the port city at Jamiatul Falah Mosque at 8am. The second Eid Jamaat will be held at the same place at 9am. Besides, Eid congregations will be held at various mosques and Eidgah maidans in the Chattogram city including at the Anderkilla Shahi Jame Mosque with religious fervour and solemnity. READ: 35,000 people will be able to join Eid jamaat at Nat’l Eidgah: Mayor Taposh Chattogram Metropolitan Police have taken tight security measures around the Eid Jamaat. CMP commissioner Saleh Mohammad Tanvir said they have taken all kinds of security measures for a smooth Eid celebration in the port city. Members of the counter-terrorism and SWAT will be deployed besides plain cloth police and detectives. Apart from CCTV cameras will be deployed to keep an eagle eye on the Eid grounds, said Monzur Morshed, deputy commissioner (Special Branch) of CMP.

Thirty-five thousand people will be able to join the main congregation of Eid-ul Fitr at the National Eidgah in the capital, which is set to return after two years during the pandemic when it remained suspended. Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Fazle Nur Taposh said this on Sunday after overseeing the preparation for the congregation at National Eidgah ground located at the High Court premises under the supervision of DSCC. He said, ”We have already made all the preparations so that Dhaka dwellers can join the Eid congregation at National Eidgah again after two years of pandemic. The ground has been decorated with a festive outlook.” Also read: Eid-ul-Fitr prayer: 5 jamaats to be held at Baitul Mukarram The law enforcing agencies are also working to ensure impenetrable safety at the main Eid Jamaat, he added. The main congregation of Eid-ul-Fitr will be held at 8:30am at the National Eidgah on the Eid day. However, the jamaat will be held at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque at 9am in case of inclement weather. Also read: Eid-ul-Fitr: National Moon sighting committee to meet on Sunday People are also seen joining the main Eid jamaat from the Education Ministry, Fisheries Ministry buildings and Press Club premises on the Eid day.

Preparations are in full swing at Sholakia Eidgah Maidan in Kishoreganj for the return of the country’s largest Eid-ul-Fitr congregation after a Covid-induced hiatus of two years. This will be the 195th Eid congregation of Sholakia Eidgah, the largest Eid Jamaat in Asia. The Islamic Foundation had banned all Eid congregations in the open and at Eidgah Maidan to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country in the last two years. According to the Sholakia Eidgah managing committee, a four-tier security system has been put in place to ensure the safety of the devotees. Read: Ashrayan-2: About 33, 000 homeless families get homes as PM's Eid gift Mashrukur Rahman Khaled, superintendent of Kishoreganj Police, said that the entire Sholakia Eidgha Maidan has been brought under a thick security blanket. A total of five platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will be deployed besides Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), police and detectives. Apart from CCTV cameras, drones will be deployed to keep an eagle eye on the ground.

Muslims across Bangladesh celebrated another muted Eid-ul-Fitr Friday without shaking hands and hugging each other thrice after the special prayers amid a host of health protocols put in place during the holiday. Eid means unbound joy, but once again the Muslims had to hold back the feeling before and after Eid prayers as health restrictions did not allow for the traditional exchange of hugs (kolakoli) among fellow devotees. Celebration robbed of by pandemic This is the second consecutive year that Muslims celebrated their largest religious festival under coronavirus restrictions that cast shadows over the festival's mass gatherings and family reunions. From Indonesia to Bangladesh, governments have imposed restrictions to contain the spread of the virus during Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Many Covid-hit countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia, imposed curbs, shut shops and even some mosques. Muted festival Like the previous year, this year's Eid in Bangladesh was celebrated without any outdoor programme as the government imposed restrictions on all social gatherings and urged the devotees to celebrate the festival with only family members indoors instead of visiting relatives' houses and outings in the wake of the pandemic. The religious affairs ministry called for the devotees to pray at their nearest mosques instead of the Eidgah and open spaces. Following the directives, no Eid congregation was held at open spaces, including at the National Eidgah on the High Court premises in the capital this year as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic still prevails. Also, the historic Eid congregation in Kishoreganj's Sholakia Maidan was called off like the previous year. Most devotees offered Eid prayers at local mosques throughout the country as advised by the ministry, maintaining health guidelines.  In the capital, people performed Eid prayers in phases. Five Eid congregations were held at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka – the first one at 7am while the next four at 8am, 9am, 10am, and 10:45am.  Long queues of Muslims were seen since Friday morning in front of the capital's many mosques including Baitul Mukarram National Mosque. Earlier, the ministry requested devotees to avoid shaking hands and the customary hugging after the prayers. In line with that, people were seen attending the congregations wearing masks and leaving Eid prayer venues without a traditional shake of hands with one another or exchange of embraces. Meanwhile, President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina greeted the nation in separate messages on the occasion of holy Eid-ul-Fitr. Sheikh Hasina on Thursday urged everyone to remain alert so that the celebrations of the festival do not cause coronavirus cases to spike. No Eid greetings exchange at Bangabhaban Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid Friday morning offered Eid-ul-Fitr prayers at Bangabhaban Darbar Hall instead of National Eidgah. Members of the president's family and senior officials of Bangabhaban also offered Eid prayers along with him, following all Covid safety protocols. Eid greetings exchange was not allowed this year due to the pandemic. Sharing joy Television channels and radio stations are telecasting special programmes marking the occasion. Special diets were served in hospitals, jails, government children's homes, centres for persons with disabilities, shelter homes, orphanages, vagrant welfare and destitute welfare centres. The prime minister sent flowers, fruits and sweetmeats to the war-wounded freedom fighters and members of the martyred families at Martyred and War-wounded Freedom Fighters' Rehabilitation Centre in the capital's Mohammadpur as a mark of her good wishes for them. 'No eid joy for BNP over a decade' BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir Friday said their party leaders and activists have not been able to feel the joy of Eid for a decade as they have been subjected to killing, enforced disappearance and other repressive acts. "Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated today (Friday) through lots of hardship and hard times. On one hand, there's a dangerous outbreak of Covid and there're serious repressive acts by the fascist government," he said. The BNP leader said, "To be honest, we don’t have the joy of eid. Because our leaders and activists have been killed and implicated in false cases. At least our 35 lakh leaders and workers have been made accused (in different cases). Eid never comes to the families of those who are accused of false charges." Covid death toll hits 12,102 Bangladesh lost 26 more lives to Covid-19, including nine in Dhaka and seven in Chattogram divisions, in the past 24 hours until Friday morning as Eid celebrations were underway with a dampened spirit due to the pandemic. The latest number – lowest in 51 days – took the country's Covid-related death count to 12,102 as it celebrated another Eid-ul-Fitr with masks and prayers. Bangladesh also confirmed 779,535 Covid-19 cases with 848 people coming out positive in 7,835 tests over the same period. Another lockdown extension looms The nationwide lockdown, imposed on April 5 to break the chain of Covid-19 infections and fatalities, has been extended several times to limit public movement or contain the surge in daily infections. The ongoing lockdown, set to end on May 16, is likely to be extended by yet another week to keep close tabs on the situation as a mass exodus from the cities before Eid-ul-Fitr has stoked fears of a third wave of infections. The lockdown measures fell flat as tens of thousands of people left Dhaka and other cities to join their families in home villages to celebrate Eid, despite stark warnings that the exodus could worsen the country's coronavirus outbreak. The country's health authorities expressed concerns that the mass travel will spread the coronavirus and reverse a recent hard-won decline in cases following weeks of nationwide lockdown. At least five people died and 50 others injured Wednesday in a stampede as thousands of people returned to their native villages from Dhaka and other cities for Eid-ul-Fitr, defying Covid-19 restrictions. Also read: Don’t let Covid to spike with unguarded Eid celebrations: PM Hasina      

There will be five Eid jamaats (congregations) at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr. A handout issued by the mosque authorities revealed the schedule on Tuesday. The first Eid jamaat will be held at 7 am while the next four will be administered at 8 am , 9am, 10am, and 10:45am respectively. The National Moon Sighting Committee will meet on Wednesday evening to fix the date of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of Muslims. The Islamic Foundation issued a press release in this regard saying the meeting will be held at the foundation's Baitul Mukarram office after Maghrib prayers for reviewing information on the sighting of Shawwal moon. The  Religious Affairs Ministry has urged devotees to offer Eid prayer at their nearest mosques instead of Eidgah and open spaces maintaining recommended health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic. It also suggested disinfecting mosques before the Eid prayer and not rolling out carpets on the floors. The devotees have been asked to bring prayer mats from home. The devotees must wear masks inside mosques and avoid using prayer mats and caps that were stored earlier there. Children, elderly people, people with physical ailment, and those involved in taking care of the sick will not be allowed to attend the Eid prayer. Besides, the devotees were requested to shun handshaking and hugging after the prayer which has been a common practice during Eid throughout the world. The Religious Affairs Ministry urged Imams and managing committees of mosques to ensure proper implementation of the directives. Read How to celebrate EID safely during COVID-19 pandemic

For the first time in nearly 200 years, there will be no Eid congregation at Kishoreganj’s Sholakia as the country fights to contain the spread of coronavirus.