Muslims Worldwide Celebrate Eid al-Adha Holiday

Muslims across the globe are celebrating the holiday of Eid al-Adha, “The Feast of Sacrifice,” which commemorates the biblical story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac. At the last moment, however, God intervenes and instead provides Abraham—a Jewish patriarch considered a prophet in Islam—with a ram to sacrifice. As one of The Media Line’s Student Interns pointed out, a central component of Eid al-Adha ^[1] therefore involves the sacrifice of an animal, generally a goat or sheep but sometimes a cow or even a camel. In the spirit of giving, a third of the meat is donated to the poor whereas another third is passed on to relatives and friends. The remaining third is eaten during the feast, which is preceded by a fast. It comes as more than two million Muslims gathered Monday at Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia, pleading to God for forgiveness, as the annual hajj pilgrimage reached its climax. Pilgrims spent the night in an encampment around the peak where Islam holds that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son and where the Prophet Mohammad is believed to have delivered his final sermon.