Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Jack Warn­er, speak­ing in his ca­pac­i­ty as chair­man of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC), has de­scribed Eid-ul-Fitr as "a price­less oc­ca­sion for cul­tur­al ex­change and un­der­stand­ing of one of the world's great re­li­gions." In a spe­cial mes­sage to the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty, which is cel­e­brat­ing the re­li­gious fes­ti­val to­day, Warn­er said, "Mus­lims open their homes and in­vite friends, fam­i­ly, co-work­ers and neigh­bours to cel­e­brate with them. Let us use this time to get to know each oth­er bet­ter, to get a deep­er in­sight in­to the way of Is­lam, so we can bet­ter ap­pre­ci­ate each oth­er and what we stand for."

He called for in­tro­spec­tion among cit­i­zens. "Let us use this op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­build our com­mu­ni­ties and to search for ways to rekin­dle the to­geth­er­ness we once had. In these chal­leng­ing times, we must make the most of every chance we get to pro­mote peace and har­mo­ny." Warn­er con­grat­u­lat­ed Mus­lims who had suc­cess­ful­ly fast­ed for one month. He be­lieved great bless­ings would come to those who per­form this ex­er­cise of sac­ri­fice and piety.

Po­lit­i­cal leader of the Con­gress of the Peo­ple (COP)?Prakash Ra­mad­har said Eid-ul-Fitr is an­oth­er ex­pres­sion of har­mo­ny in "our mul­ti-re­li­gious so­ci­ety." He called up­on Eid cel­e­brants to re­mem­ber Mus­lims in war-torn Syr­ia. "As or­dained, once the new moon is sight­ed, the spe­cial Eid prayer will be per­formed by Mus­lims, fol­lowed by the warm fam­i­ly and so­cial gath­er­ings, which in­vari­ably in­clude cit­i­zens of all re­li­gions. It is an­oth­er rea­son for us to cel­e­brate our 50th an­niver­sary and the 46th Eid-ul-Fitr as a na­tion­al hol­i­day.

"We of­fer a spe­cial prayer for peace for our broth­ers and sis­ters in Syr­ia and oth­er na­tions of the Mid­dle East who are con­front­ed by vi­o­lent in­ter­nal con­flict." He al­so ap­pealed for prayers for coun­tries plagued with nat­ur­al dis­as­ters, in­clud­ing Haiti and the Phillip­ines. He said the in­creased taqwah (God con­scious­ness)?dis­played by Mus­lims dur­ing Ra­madan was tes­ti­mo­ny that Is­lam was a peace­ful, prac­ti­cal and dis­ci­plined re­li­gion, which of­fered a pro­gres­sive way of life.

"Let us al­ways strive for pos­i­tive de­vel­op­ment de­void of evil thoughs and ac­tions,"?said Ra­mad­har. Op­po­si­tion Leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley said Eid-ul-Fitr is a time to "joy­ful­ly serve Al­lah by joy­ful­ly serv­ing our fel­low man." Row­ley quot­ed an ex­cerpt from the Holy?Quran (Chap­ter 49 verse 13) which states: "O mankind! We cre­at­ed you from a male and a fe­male and made you in­to na­tions and tribes that you may know and ho­n­our each oth­er. To ho­n­our each oth­er, broth­ers and sis­ters is to do what is moral­ly right."

He said,?"As in­di­vid­u­als, we should ho­n­our one an­oth­er, re­gard­less of race, re­li­gion, class, colour or po­lit­i­cal af­fil­i­a­tion. By do­ing what is moral­ly right, we be­come stronger in­di­vid­u­als who build stronger com­mu­ni­ties which en­able T&T to soar to greater heights of so­cial and eco­nom­ic suc­cess­es." Row­ley felt the mes­sage was sig­nif­i­cant since T&T was poised to cel­e­brate its 50th an­niver­sary. "Let us re­in­force fam­i­ly ties, strength­en friend­ships and turn away from bad habits, evil thoughts and deeds. Let us pu­ri­fy our na­tion's soul."