Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice)

This morning I logged on to Facebook only to find some of my friends writing “Eid Mubarak” as their status updates. I knew that roughly translated to “blessed festival” but as to which festival, I was uncertain. I started searching the web for indications of why they had mentioned this on their statuses. Then I cam along this post from the Sacramento Bee. And now it makes sense. Today was Eid al-Adha, Feast of the Sacrifice.

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ‘Īdu l-’Aḍḥā) or “Festival of Sacrifice” or “Greater Eid” is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Isma’il) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead. The meat is divided into three parts to be distributed to others. The family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor & needy.
Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from Sura 2 (Al-Baqara) Ayah 196 in the Qur’an. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a Wajib prayer of two Raka’ah (units) followed by a sermon (khuṭbah). The word “Eid” appears in Sura al-Mai’da (“The Table Spread,” Chapter 5) of the Qur’an, meaning ‘solemn festival’.

(courtesy of ©Wikipedia)

The images courtesy of the Bee are stunning and an incredible feast to the eyes. Click here to see the full article on the Sacramento Bee.