The celebration of Eid-ul-Adha in the United States and around the world .

by Abdullahi Nur
Friday, November 27, 2009

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Islam has two major holidays - Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha. Eid-ul-Fitr follows the month of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Adha falls on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Zul Hajji.

The Eid that has just fallen on the 27th of November 2009 is Eid-ul-Adha, and it commemorates the willingness of Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismail for the sake of God (may Allah’s peace be upon these two great prophets).

This Eid falls at the same time of the Thanksgiving Day holiday here in America. In the past, for Muslims living in North America, it was challenging to maintain Islamic holidays and traditions in a predominantly non-Muslim environment, but this Eid-ul-Adha and the Thanksgiving holiday came together on same day, which is good news for Muslims parents and their kids to get a chance to celebrate both at the same time.

In Minnesota, and all Muslims in the United States, all joined their brethren in faith. The Muslim population worldwide is estimated at about 1.5 billion, and the majority participates in the annual ritual sacrifice of Friday November 27, as they celebrate Eid-ul-Adha. On Wednesday evening I spent a few hours in Wilson Library in the University of the Minnesota, and I met some Muslim students and I asked some questions about how they perceived Eid-ul-Adha. I could not imagine how their faces gleamed at the question. Abdititah, who is one of the students University Of Minnesota that I met on Wednesday evening, told me jokingly that this Eid-ul-Adha and Thanksgiving holiday fall the same time, and it will be the day of Facebook chatting, because there was no work and no school.

Here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the largest concentration of Somalis in the United States, so I paid a visit to a major Somali Mall on Karmel and 24 Streets Mall. I saw people were busy buying scarves and prayer hats for men, and there was a long lines at the barbershops; and for women, they were busy buying gifts, and getting henna painted onto their bodies from special painting shops. Sadia Ali, who is one of the ladies who works at one of the henna shops, told me that she was busy yesterday and today and she couldn’t even get a chance to answer my questions because of the number of customers. When I asked the price for henna decoration she told me that business was booming, with full henna for both the legs and the arms at $35, and for the arms only at $15 - which I guess $35 an hour, which is like a white collar job salary.

Muslims who go to Hajj, and for those who celebrate Hajj at home, have to slaughter a cow, camel, goat or a sheep in observance of the Ibrahim ritual. Those Muslim people who have the opportunity to slaughter an animal have to divide the meat into three parts. One part should be given to the neighbors; the second part is to be given to the poor; while the third party is for consumption by family members.

This Eid-ul-Adha Hajj, few people were expected to reach Hajj because of the fear from the swine flu virus, which could be easily spread through the mass Hajj gathering. This year, the estimated number of people committing to go to Hajj is about 2 million. As of Thursday morning, there were transitional rains that fell on the Mecca Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, and the death toll had reached at about 80 - including a Somali scholar, and a well respected Imam from Ottawa mosque, Sheikh Mohammed Rashad (may peace be upon him).

The Muslim Eid prayer in Minnesota took place at different places in mosques in the morning hours of Friday. The Iman where I prayed read two Eid sermons for mass gathering in the mosque, and encouraged the congregation to be generous to the poor and visit the sick, and help each other.

The US President, Barrack Obama, issued once again a special Hajj message, and he said “Michelle and I would like send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year and to Muslims in America around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abraham roots of the three major religions of the world”.

He continued and said, “during the Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life, including thousands of American Muslims, will stand in prayer on Mount Arafat. The following day, Muslims around the world will celebrate Eid-ul-Adha and distribute food to the less following day to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son out of obedience to God”.

There is no accurate count of the numbers of Muslims in the United States, as the U.S. Census Bureau does not collect data on religious identification, but the latest estimate in 2009 is about 7 million, according to CNN and the white house.

Abdullahi Nur,(freelance)
Minneapolis- Minnesota,
United States.
[email protected]

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