Eid-ul-Azha is one of the special festivals of Muslims and all the Muslims celebrate this festival with great enthusiasm. This is an Eid of sacrifice and is known as “festival of sacrifice” and “sacrifice feast”.
The festival is celebrated on the tenth day of Zhul Hijja, the Islamic month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Azha to remember the willingness of prophet Abraham’s to give up Ismail, his son for God.
However for the pasts several years the celebration of Eid is marred due to rising inflation and the inability of the people to buy sacrificial animals for carrying out the ritual of sacrifice.
This year the average price of sacrificial goat is all times high it has been learnt that prices of goats range from RS 15,000 to Rs 150,000.
Due to such high prices most of the people are deprived of celebrating Eid in the true manner. This year the people not only have to bear the burnt of high prices of sacrificial animals but also are suffering from Atta crisis.
However despite all this the festivities of Eid engulfs us and we celebrate with religious fervour and tradition.
The men go for their Eid prayers clad in new clothes and after they recite their Eid prayer Sheer Korma is served.
Once breakfast is done then sacrificial of domestic animals like goat (Bakr- Eid), cow, sheep or camel is done, as a symbol of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Ishmael.
Close friends and brothers gather to have their share of the evening feast.
Muslims visit houses of their near and dear ones on this festival to celebrate the festival in the best way.
Delicious food, desserts and beverages are cooked and served on this festival to people who visit.
This most-awaited festival brings the remembrance of Abraham’s devotion to the Allah because of which, he took the decision of sacrificing his son. His act revealed the feeling of renunciation that stayed in his heart.
And the whole rite even today stands as Abraham’s message for all Muslims to think of the nation and humanity instead of being deeply engrossed in selfish aims and preoccupations.
Because of his unflinching faith in Allah, Abraham was bestowed with Allah’s lasting grace. He became the source of the very ground of the Muslim religion and the festival of Eid-ul-Azha pays deference to the holy light that showed the path of rightness to the entire world.
Allah had a way of examining Abraham’s faith in Him and Abraham had to reveal the feeling of complete surrender to Him. Through his readiness to offer his son Abraham proved that nothing could falter him.
Eid-ul-Azha is the celebration of the same instinct that we all possess. It’s the celebration of our love for Allah.
The meat of the sacrificed animal is given to all the neighbours, friends, family members and deprived people.
It is said that according to the customs, meat has to be divided into three equal parts among the family, friends and neighbours and deprived people.
So celebrate this Eid-ul-Azha in a very traditional way, as it is the celebration of our love for Allah.