Lucknow, Amrit Vichar. The three-day ‘Etifaq’ program to be held in Ramzan at Shia Jama Masjid in Tahsinganj will start from 24 Ramzan (14 March). This is the 28th year of Etifaaq. Maulana Shahkar Zaidi said that Allah has given the order to perform ‘Itifaq’, an important prayer of Ramadan Mubarak, in his book Quran Majeed and this prayer has been being performed every year on the last dates of the holy month of Ramadan for the last 27 years in Lucknow’s Shia Jama Masjid Tahsinganj.
Due to the efforts of former present Imam of the mosque, Maulana Syed Ali Qasim Rizvi and former Deputy SP Rizwan Haider, this important prayer was successfully organized for the first time in the year 1999 in Shahi Jama Masjid. Shahkar Zaidi, who has been serving in Itikaf for the last 25 years, said that this year Itikaf will be performed on 24, 25 and 26 Ramadan (14, 15 and 16 March 2026). During Itikaf, the pilgrims staying in the mosque are given recitation of the Quran by the Shia religious leaders along with information about religious texts and things related to the religion of Islam, in which the people sitting in Itikaf get a lot of information along with information about the misconceptions spread in the society in the name of Islam and ways to avoid them.
For three days, fasting people stay in the mosque to perform I’tikaf and worship Allah and pray for themselves, their family, society and the welfare of the country and the world. He told that the first condition for participating in I’tikaf is that fasting is mandatory for the person who wants to participate in it; he cannot do I’tikaf without fasting.
This year also, to participate in Itikaf, it will be mandatory to fill a form like last year and for which you will have to bring your passport size photograph and copy of Aadhaar, for which there is no fee. To participate in I’tikaf, one has to enter the mosque at the time of Sehri on 24th Ramadan i.e. before the morning Azaan. During I’tikaf, arrangements for Sehri, Iftari and evening meal for the fasting people for three days are made by the believers of the mosque.
The celebration will be arranged by Vicar Haider Rizvi, former Deputy SP, Mahmood Akhtar, Shakeel Rizvi, Rafiq, Shahid Kazmi, Engineer Ahmed Raza, Engineer Yawar Hussain, Mazhar Hussain, Mohammad Raza, Urfi, Ashu Zaidi, Faisal Rizvi, Arif, Arshi Zaidi, Haider Hussain etc.
