Alwaght- This year Eid al-Fitr was different from any other in Iraq. While the three-day holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan is usually festive, there was a cloud of sadness over Iraq this year left behind by the bloody attacks on Baghdad. This year many Iraqis abstained from joy and fasted from celebrations.
Traditionally, Muslims break their month-long fast on Eid al-Fitr. However, Iraqi Muslims’ Eid was marred with bloodshed by the ISIS, a terrorist group that perpetrates crimes against Muslims and non-Muslims in the name of Islam.
After the deadly attack in Karada, Baghdad, many Muslims chose not to celebrate the holiday which started on Wednesday and ended on Friday in solidarity with the bereaved families of the victims.
In short, Iraq is in mourning.
Some parents wanted to teach their children that Iraqis’ pain is their pain. They should learn to feel with others and stand by their side. Other individuals refrained from expressive celebrations and feasting to spare the families of the victims the sight of joy in a time of grief, and so that they are not reminded of their loved one’s lost Eid.
Instead many restricted this Eid’s traditions to family visits without flagrant celebrations such as feasting in parks and restaurants, fireworks, or buying sweets and new clothes.
The Iraqi government had also cancelled Eid al-Fitr celebrations on Monday at least 292 people were killed last week.
“We will not make a celebration in this year's Mubarak Ramadan festival due to respect for our martyrs and injured,” President Fuad Masum said in a statement.
He ordered security forces to increase anti-terror measures and called for the return of parliament after Eid al-Fitr. Three days of national mourning were declared.
On Sunday, 292 Iraqis were killed in a car bomb explosion in the Karada neighborhood in central Baghdad. The streets were busy with people when the bombing ripped through the crowd.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in which a driver of a refrigerator truck packed with explosives was involved.
Five days after Karrada carnage, ISIS carried out a bombing and shooting attack on Thursday, killing at least 40 people and injuring 75 others near a holy Shiite mausoleum north of the Iraqi capital.
At least three suicide bombers and nine gunmen have attacked families and police at Sayyid Mohammed shine in 80 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad.
It is believed that ISIS Terrorists are venting anger in the form of attacks against innocent civilians to compensate for the string of losses on the battlefields across Iraq. At the same time, a terrorist group like ISIS does not look for excuses to spill blood and cause mayhem in the name of the religion of Islam, primarily against Muslims.
For many, this Eid was too sorrowful to be celebrated as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. The spirit of Eid was extinguished the moment the explosion blazed in Baghdad.
