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Malegaon:
As the sun bids farewell to dawn and knocks the morning
November 17, Muslims all across will gear up to set for Eidgahs,
the special grounds reserved for offering annual Eid prayers. Men,
Children, and at some places even women, will up them in new
dresses and march towards these grounds normally located outside
the city. Nonetheless, the Muslim neighbourhoods were already in
festive mood ever since the new moon of the month of Dhu al Hijja
was sighted November 07 – a whole 9 days before Eid.
However, Eid al Fitr, as the
traditions go, is more about sacrifices and one’s capacity to
surrender to the Will of the God than about new dresses, attires
and festivities.
“As against Eid al Fitr, which is
celebrated to mark the end of Ramadan – the month of fasting, Eid
al Azah coincides with Hajj – the annual rituals performed in and
around Makkah al Mukarremah in Saudi Arabia. It has in it,
exemplary lessons of sacrifice and devotion expressed by the
Biblical prophet Abraham and his son Ismael thousands of years
before”, says Iqbal Madani, an Islamic scholar.
Prophet Abraham almost sacrificed
his son Ismael, he adds, after he received the orders from the God
to do so. To mark this, Muslims around the world sacrifice animals
every year on this occasion. Also, more than three million people
will remain at Makkah, Mina and Mount Arafat – the Holy sites in
Saudi Arabia to offer tributes to Prophet Abraham, his wife Hager
and son Ismael for five days from November 15 when this year’s
Hajj began, and mimic and replicate what these Holy figures did
years and years before.
With this traditional fervour and
gaiety, Eid al Azha is celebrated every year, and everywhere. Not
to mention that the Kababs, Biryanis, Tikkas and other delicious
dishes come as an incentive and rule the few days after Eid.
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