Muslims around the world are greeting one another with the Arabic phrase “Eid Mubarak” to wish each other a blessed holiday.
Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of the Sacrifice, marks the end of the annual hajj to Saudi Arabia, considered obligatory for all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lives. On Tuesday (Aug. 21), more than 2 million Muslims were to perform the final major ritual of the pilgrimage, the stoning of the devil, at the site where they believe Satan failed in his attempts to tempt the prophet Ibrahim to disobey God.
Muslims believe Ibrahim — Abraham in the Bible — had a vision calling him to sacrifice his son Ismail — Isaac in the famous biblical story — which he interpreted to be a divine order.
“As he was about to slaughter his son, God revealed to him that he had fulfilled the purpose, and told him to slaughter a ram instead,” Imam Hammad Ahmad, who leads a mosque in Washington, D.C., told Religion News Service in 2016. “It’s symbolic of how we should kill our base desires — killing the animal within, to follow God’s will rather than our natural impulses.”
To commemorate the sacrifice and the unwavering faith of Ibrahim, his son and his wife, Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat among their family, friends and those in need. In the West, many Muslims send money abroad or to local farms and butchers for the sacrifice.
On the morning of Eid, many Muslims dress up in their newest clothes, say their morning prayers and head to the mosque, then spend the day visiting family and friends. The celebrations typically involve…
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