Because the holidays this year were from Wednesday to Saturday, if you left on the Friday before and had Friday and Monday off, you could stay in The Village until this morning, Monday, and catch the bus to The City to get to work in time (a little late, but what can you do?).
One of the pleasant things was that we marked our 30th day of Eid and saw the moon even though the entire nation was shrouded in clouds. We also celebrated Eid with the rest of the Ummah. Naturally, Niger and Mali held theirs on Tuesday, while India, Bangladesh, Burma, and perhaps Malaysia and Indonesia had theirs on Wednesday.
A significant revelation surfaced. A member of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee stated that sightings were to be confirmed in accordance with Shariah regulations and that the witness needed to present identification. That responds to my inquiry regarding the envoy from Qatar who saw the moon in Islamabad. His evidence would not be accepted since he would not have an ID card. Where do you draw the line when someone from Japan may question a witness in Mali over the phone? We celebrated Eid this year thanks to witnesses in Charsadda and Okara. Why then is there none in Tashkent? or even London, for that matter? I apologize, but those witnesses would not be carrying IDs from Pakistan.
Mian Shehbaz Sharif left Pakistan for Saudi Arabia, while everyone else went to The Village. When a beggar rapidly tosses a salaam, MBS must have felt the same way as everyone else. While MBS was busy digging through his pockets, we were debating whether or not he had brought enough returns to cover the trip expenses.
My father used to tell me stories about how Arab beggars would appear during Ramadan in the 1930s. Even though Punjab was impoverished, it was nevertheless wealthier than Saudi Arabia, and some individuals helped to bridge the gap. It appears that roles have flipped.
