Srinagar, Feb 14 : Thousands of Muslim devotees spent the holy night of 'Shab-e-Barat' in prayer and penance in Kashmir as mosques and shrines reverberated with praises of Allah and reverence to the Prophet.

Displaying their generational commitment to the tolerant, eclectic, all-encompassing message of the Prophet, devout Muslims remained in prayer at different places throughout the night seeking divine blessings and invoking Allah's mercy for this life and the life thereafter.

Despite the spread of the strait-jacketed Wahabi practice of Islam followed by the Ahle Hadis in Kashmir, Kashmiri Muslims thronged mosques and shrines throughout the night till dawn on Friday.

The followers of the Ahle Hadis school of Islam do not follow the practice of penance and prayers at mosques and shrines on the holy occasion of Shab-e-Barat. The followers of this hard-line school of thought even ridicule those following the tolerant, all-encompassing Islamic practices followed by the vast majority of Kashmiri Muslims.

Kashmiris visit graveyards during the holy night to offer 'Fateh's' prayers at the graves of their prayers in sharp deviation from the Ahle Hadis belief that no 'Fateh's' can bring relief to the dead as their deeds during their lifetime determine their final destination.

The largest gatherings were seen at the Hazratbal shrine on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar city. The shrine houses the holy relic of the Prophet that is displayed to the devotees after every Nimaz during the holy days of the Muslim calendar.

Authorities had, however, disallowed the congregation at the Jamia Masjid in the old city Nowhetta area of Srinagar.

Sources close to the head priest, Mirwiaz Umar Farooq said he had been placed under house arrest in his uptown Nigeen outskirts area of Srinagar city. Usually, a large congregation is held at the Jamia Masjid each year on the occasion of the Shab-e-Barat.

/IANS