Eid al-Adha

Happy Eid Al Adha to our Muslim brothers!

Eid al-Adha is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to follow Allah's (God's) command to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Muslims around the world observe this event.



What do people do?



At Eid al-Adha, many Muslims make a special effort to pray and listen to a sermon at a mosque. They also wear new clothes, visit family members and friends and may symbolically sacrifice an animal in an act known as qurbani. This represents the animal that Ibrahim sacrificed in the place of his son.



In some traditionally Muslim countries, families or groups of families may purchase an animal known as udhiya, usually a goat or sheep, to sacrifice, but this is not common or legal in many parts of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States or many other countries. In these countries, groups of people may purchase a whole carcass from a butcher or slaughterhouse and divide it amongst themselves or just buy generous portions of meat for a communal meal on Eid-al-Adha. People also give money to enable poorer members of their local community and around the world to eat a meat-based meal.

Watch live streaming video from photomylens at livestream.com

In the period around Eid al-Adha, many Muslims travel to Mecca and the surrounding area in Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. Package holidays are organized from many countries. Muslims may plan and save for many years to enable them to take part in this event, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Public life



Eid al-Adha is a public holiday in places such as the Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. It is not a nationwide public holiday in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom or the United States. However, some Islamic organizations may be closed or offer a reduced level of service and there may be some local congestion around mosques in countries where Eid al-Adha is not a public holiday.

Background



Ibrahim, known as Abraham in the Christian and Jewish traditions, was commanded by God to sacrifice his adult son. He obeyed and took Ishmael (Ismail or Ismael) to Mount Moriah. Just as he was to sacrifice his son, an angel stopped him and gave him a ram to sacrifice in place of his son. Some people dispute that the son of sacrifice was Isaac (Isḥāq). Regardless, these events are remembered and celebrated at Eid al-Adha.



The Islamic calendar is based on observations of the moon and the length of a particular month can vary between years. For this reason, predicted dates of Eid al-Adha may be corrected at the start of the month of Dhul Hijja. This is around 10 days before the start of the festival.



Disclaimer: Please note that the opinions and views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those ofTimeanddate.com regarding the son of sacrifice.

Source: timeanddate.com







For those who are residing in U.A.E. like myself, here is the tentative date of Holidays.

Eid Al Adha holidays in UAE could stretch up to nine days







Tentative dates for the break start from November 12 till November 20

Eid holidays for private schools in the UAE are expected to stretch nine days. The tentative dates for the break are starting November 12 and until November 20, a GEMS Dubai official told Emirates 24|7, adding that the Education Ministry is yet to announce the formal dates.

Although schools are expected to get the nine-day break, the number of days off for public and private sector employees remains unclear as yet. With Arafat (Haj) Day expected to be on Monday, November 15, and Eid Al Adha expected on Tuesday, November 16, Eid break could stretch between three and nine days for employees in the UAE.

Many UAE residents are planning to go on short trips in and around the country and are awaiting the Ministry's announcements on the break. "Last year, private sector holidays fell during the weekend, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday," said Lobo S, a Dubai resident who works in the restaurant business.

"This year, with Eid Al Adha expected on Tuesday, November 16, we're hoping the Ministry and our employers will stretch holidays from Sunday until Thursday, in effect giving us a nine-day break," he added.

A number of travel agents, hotels and airlines in the country and around the region have started announcing packages for such breaks, luring travellers with competitively-priced fares and discounts on travel and stay.

GCC peer Qatar has already announced a 10-day break for schools and public sector employees. Eid break in Qatar will start on November 11 and end on November 21.

"The holidays were initially scheduled to start on November 15, but since there's only one working day between the weekend and the Eid holidays, the authorities will be giving Sunday off as well," Al Arab newspaper reported.

The longish break is likely to fuel debate in Gulf countries about the vast discrepancies between the public and the private sectors, in the holidays granted to their employees.

Source: Emirates 24/7

Eid Al-Adha in the Gregorian Calendar

While Eid al-Adha is always on the same day of the Islamic calendar, the date on the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. The lunar calendar is approximately eleven days shorter than the solar calendar. Each year, Eid al-Adha (like other Islamic holidays) falls on one of two different Gregorian dates in different parts of the world, due to the fact that the boundary of crescent visibility is different from the International Date Line.

The following list shows the official dates of Eid al-Adha for Saudi Arabia as announced by the Supreme Judicial Council. Future dates are calculated according to the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia. The three days after the listed date are also part of the festival. The time before the listed date the pilgrims visit the Mount Arafat and descend from it after sunrise of the listed day. Future dates of Eid al-Adha might face correction 10 days before the festivity, in case of deviant lunar sighting in Saudi Arabia for the start of the month Dhul Hijja.

• 1420 (Islamic Calendar): March 16, 2000


• 1421 (Islamic Calendar): March 5, 2001


• 1422 (Islamic Calendar): February 22, 2002


• 1423 (Islamic Calendar): February 12, 2003


• 1424 (Islamic Calendar): February 1, 2004


• 1425 (Islamic Calendar): January 21, 2005


• 1426 (Islamic Calendar): January 10, 2006


• 1427 (Islamic Calendar): December 31, 2006


• 1428 (Islamic Calendar): December 20, 2007


• 1429 (Islamic Calendar): December 8, 2008


• 1430 (Islamic Calendar): November 27, 2009


• 1431 (Islamic Calendar): November 16, 2010


• 1432 (Islamic Calendar): November 6, 2011 (calculated)


• 1433 (Islamic Calendar): October 26, 2012 (calculated)


• 1434 (Islamic Calendar): October 15, 2013 (calculated)


• 1435 (Islamic Calendar): October 4, 2014 (calculated)


• 1436 (Islamic Calendar): September 23, 2015 (calculated)


• 1437 (Islamic Calendar): September 11, 2016 (calculated)


• 1438 (Islamic Calendar): September 1, 2017 (calculated)


• 1439 (Islamic Calendar): August 21, 2018 (calculated)


• 1440 (Islamic Calendar): August 11, 2019 (calculated)


• 1441 (Islamic Calendar): July 31, 2020 (calculated)


• 1442 (Islamic Calendar): July 23, 2021 (calculated)

Source: Wikipedia