Rains mar Eid-Ul-Fitr prayers in Cape Coast

Cape Coast, Oct. 23, GNA - For the first time in so many years, a downpour that lasted for only 30 minutes at Cape Cost marred this year's Eid-Ul-Fitr prayers, which is always held in the open to accommodate hundreds of thousands of worshippers celebrating the end of Ramadan.

At the Abura Cape Coast Technical Institute Park where the Ahmadiyya Muslims converged, prayers came to an abrupt end as worshippers run helter- skelter to seek shelter.

Later in an interview with journalists, Haphiz Ahmed Jibreel Al-Saeed, deputy head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Ghana, who was leading the prayers, said the rains signified blessings from Allah. He said Ramadan is a physical, spiritual and moral exercise that facilitates improvement in the lives of Muslims and urged them to extend the benefits to their daily lives.

=93Physically, fasting is good for the body and spiritually, it strengthens our daily communion with Allah, and also morally, it helps us to stay away from sin and build ourselves up emotionally.=94 Haphiz Al-Saeed appealed to all Muslims to stay in love and ensure that they promote peaceful coexistence at all times and also pray for the nation and its leadership for peace and unity.

At the Holy Child School Park, the orthodox Muslims defied the rains and worshipped and prayed.

In a speech read for him, the Central Regional minister, Nana Ato Arthur urged Muslims to take advantage of the capitation grant and send their children to school because it is the only legacy they could bequeath them.

He also urged them to stay away from acts that would disturb the current peaceful atmosphere in the country. Sheik Abubakar Hassan Regional chief Imam prayed for prosperity of the nation.