Milad-un-Nabi observed in Hyderabad

Religious meetings, blood donation and food camps were held to mark the occasion

Hyderabad: Milad-un-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, was celebrated on Monday in the city in a grand way. Religious meetings and related events, blood donation and food camps, sapling plantation programmes and other religion related events were organised across the city. The Milad-un-Nabi corresponds to the 12th day of Rabi al Awaal, the third month of Hijri calendar.

A mega blood donation camp was organised at Asafia State Central Library, Afzalgunj, by FOCUS and TSCS. Around 1,000 people turned up to donate blood at the venue. Another camp was organised at Prime Function Hall Mallepally by Congress leader Osman Mohammed Khan. One more camp was organised at Eidgah Mir, Balamrai, Secunderabad.

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Similar camps were organised at different places in the city. Blood donation camps were also organised in the neighbouring Vikarabad district.

Religious programmes were held at different mosques and function halls in the city. At the historic Mecca Masjid, a sermon was delivered by Khateeb Mecca Masjid, Hafez-o-Qari Mohammed Rizwan Qureshi and a few thousand people participated in the programme.

Similar gatherings were held at different mosques in the city. A few socio-religious organisations conducted quiz competitions for children on topics ranging on different aspects of Islam. The winners were presented awards during functions held locally.

Fruit distribution was conducted at several hospitals in the city where individuals and groups of friends distributed fruits among the patients.

Youngsters in a few areas of the city had illuminated the roads with serial bulbs and put up flags and buntings. The traders at Chatta Bazaar did a brisk business on Monday.

The procession taken out on the day by the Sunni United Forum of India (SUFI) and other organisations to mark the occasion was postponed to Thursday in view of the final Ganesh idol immersion programme.

Chilkur priest attends Milad blood donation camp

In a rare gesture of fostering communal harmony and sending a positive message of inter-faith brotherhood, Chilkur Balaji temple head priest CS Rangarajan along with the temple staff participated in a blood donation drive organised by the Helping Hand Foundation at Masjid-E-Muhammed Hussain in Rajendranagar on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi.
The blood donation drive was organised to mobilise blood for children suffering from cancer at State MNJ Cancer Hospital. Nearly 100 units of blood are required at the hospital daily, where nearly 2,500 major and 4,000 minor surgeries are done in a year, a press release said.

HHF and Chilkur Balaji temple have been working for the past five years in promoting inter-faith dialogue, communal harmony and peace at a time when increasing polarisation between the majority Hindu community and the principal minority community are frosty and at its lowest ebb.