Sirajul Islam Shishir and Sabbir Mirza:

Hundreds of Muslim devotees in different villages of Sirajganj Sadar and Tarash upazila yesterday offered ‘Istisqa’ prayer seeking rain to get rid from the ongoing heat-wave sweeping across the country.

In Sirajganj, the prayer was offered at Khan Saheb Eidgah ground in Sirajganj municipality at around 11:00am with the presence of several hundreds of people came from different areas of the town.

Alhaz Maulana Muhammad Omar Faruk conducted the prayer as its Imam under the initiative of Saidur Rahman Bachchu, General Secretary of Sirajganj District BNP.

In Tarash, the prayer was offered at around 10:00am in Hamkuria Eidgah ground in Tarash upazila of the district conducted by the Imam Maulana Abdus Samad Azadi, also a teacher of Dobila Islampur Degree College.

Muslim devotees from different areas of Tarash upazila took part in the prayer. After the Salat, the Imam also presented Khutba in this regard and offered special ‘Munajat’ seeking rains with the hope of getting relief from the clutch of drought and other natural disasters.

It is to be mentioned that, the matter of Salat al-Istisqa (Prayer for rain) has been expressly mentioned in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and there is consensus concerning it.

A tradition reports that, once when the people of Madinah were facing drought and the Prophet (S) was delivering a sermon, a man stood up and said, “Horses and women have perished. Pray to Allah to give us rain.” The Prophet (S) extended his hands up and also prayed.