Eidgah Mubarak Khan Shaheed located in Normal is the oldest Eidgah of the city. It was built hundreds of years ago. Around five to six thousand Namazis offer Namaaz here. The area of this Eidgah is 29 decimals. The Imam here is Faizullah Qadri Most of us have grown up reading Munshi Premchand’s ‘Eidgah’, a touching story of the emotional bond between four-year-old orphan Hamid and his grandmother Amina, but very few know that a fair held at the Idgah in Gorakhpur inspired him to write the story. ‘Eidgah’, written by Premchand during his days in Gorakhpur and published in 1938 after his death, tells how while visiting the Idgah fair on Eid, the boy overcomes his craving for toys and sweets and uses his pocket money (Eidi) to buy a pair of tongs (‘chimta’) as he often saw his grandmother burn her fingers while making ‘roti’. It is absolutely true that Premchand wrote ‘Eidgah’ by ??getting ideas from the Idgah fair in Gorakhpur. The story is about a child who is small, but has big ideas. Even after so many decades, there is not much difference between the Eidgah fair mentioned by Premchand in his story and the celebrations of today. On Eid and Bakrid, shops of sweets, toys, bangles, utensils etc. are still set up here." Thousands of Muslims gather here in their traditional attire to offer prayers. Many children come here in colorful clothes, some of whom are dressed as Arab Sheikhs.
