ISLAMABAD, Mar 31 (NNI): Pakistan’s religion ministry is all set to host a seven-day Qur’an recitation event, also known locally as “Mehfil-e-Shabeena,” at the city’s iconic Shah Faisal Mosque starting Sunday.
The Shabeena is an annual event in which the entire holy Qur’an, which has over 6,000 verses, is recited in up to three nights during the last days of Ramadan.
In Pakistan, renowned reciters of the Qur’an, also known as Qaris, are gathered each year at the mosque to participate in the event.
“Annual Mehfil-e-Shabeena, under the auspices of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, will start at Faisal Mosque Islamabad tonight,” the state-run Radio Pakistan said in a report.
“During the seven-day Mehfil, selected Qaris from across the country will recite the whole Qur’an.”
The report said that the event would begin after the special Tarawih prayers and continue late into the night.
Muslims around the world visit mosques frequently in the last ten nights of Ramadan, considered the most blessed of the holy month and in which believers around the world spend late hours saying voluntary prayers and reading the Qur’an.
Among one of these odd-numbered nights, Muslims believe, is the “Night of Power” in which Islam says the first verses of the holy Qur’an were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Faisal Mosque is a landmark of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. It is over 54,000 square feet in size and can accommodate over 250,000 people at a time.
It is the largest mosque in Pakistan and the fourth largest in the world, breaking from traditional Islamic structures like domes and instead built along clean modern lines resembling the tents used by nomadic Arab Bedouin tribes, with sloping roofs and a unique angular body. NNI
