By Hasan Yusuf
Daijiworld Media Network - Kuwait (SP)
Kuwait, October 18: Indian Muslim Association (IMA), Khaitan unit organized an inter-faith Eid Ul-Fitr (Festival of Fast-breaking) get-together at Kuwait Teachers Society Auditorium in Dasma, Kuwait recently, in which good number of elite Indian expatriates participated.
Engineer Abdul Aziz Al Duaij, assistant director general of IPC participated as chief guest and presented an enthralling presentation on anger management, that plays a major role in ensuring happiness in life.
Presidents of Kuwait Kannada Koota (KKK), Tamilnadu Engineers Forum (TEF), Telugu Kala Samiti (TKS), vice-president of Kerala Arts Lovers Association (KALA) and Indian Doctors Forum IDF (Dr Peter D’Souza, N Lakshminarayanan, V Nalini Mohan, George Koickaleth and Jaganath R Chodankar) were very much pleased to participate in the Eid get-together as guests of honor and appreciated IMA’s efforts for arranging such inter-religious harmony get-togethers. They voiced their opinions in favour of maintaining harmony and human values between various communities.
Keynote address on the ‘message of Eid’ was presented by journalist B S Sharafuddin. He asserted, that festivals in Islam are unique, as unlike usual practice of the birth anniversaries of great personalities being celebrated as festivals by other religious groups, Islamic festivals emphasize more on cultivating values of happiness, which will ensure happiness during the Eid day and beyond.
He further said, that unity and cooperation between various cultures and faiths are the key elements behind peace and prosperity. This is more relevant to India, as the country is pluralistic in every aspect of life. He said, that when elements who are spreading hatred and mistrust are active, it is the responsibility of the to peace-loving people to increase inter-faith dialogues and promote goodwill and inter-cultural understanding.
Mohammed Aslam, president of IMA, delivered presidential remarks. He said, that IMA arranges this kind of "get-togethers" from time to time to maintain the goodwill and friendship with tje fellow-citizens living here in Kuwait .
the members of the audience participated quite actively in the question-and-answer session and several questions relating to cultural differences were answered by the keynote speaker.
Hasan Yusuf proposed vote of thanks and conducted the program. The programme started with the recitation of verses from Quran by Master Ahmad Mansour along with English translation. Dinner was served at the end.