Over two billion professing Muslims all over the world on Friday celebrate Eid-el-Kabir, a major religious festivity to commemorate the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, Ismail, as an act of obedience to Allah.
At various prayer grounds, Muslim faithful, clothed in colourful attire, gathered for the symbolic Rakkat prayers to mark Eid celebrations from where they proceed to their respective houses for the symbolic slaughtering of rams, goats, sheep, cows, or camels to be cooked and shared communally.
Millions of Muslims around the world take advantage of the holiday that comes with Eid to travel long and short distances to reunite with families and friends.
The season is generally remarked as one of love, sacrifice, togetherness, and lots of feasting — with fried-to-golden-brown meat a common but delightful sight from one neighbourhood to another.
Aside from the Muslim faithful, Eid-el-Kabir significantly harmonises Muslims with people of other religions who join in the feasting.
The yearly festivities were preceded by a Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where over 1.5 million Muslim worshippers prayed on Mount Arafat, among other symbolic rituals associated with the pilgrimage.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that must be completed at least once by all Muslims with the means.
As part of the Hajj, white-robed pilgrims recited Koranic verses from dawn on the 70-metre (230 feet) rocky rise near Mecca, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his last sermon.
The pilgrimage crystallised when over 1.5 million pilgrims began throwing seven stones at each of three concrete walls symbolising the devil in the Mina Valley, on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca.
The ritual commemorates Abraham’s stoning of the devil at the three spots where it is said Satan tried to dissuade him from obeying God’s order to sacrifice his son.
Saudi Arabia earns billions of dollars a year from the hajj, and the lesser pilgrimage known as Umrah, undertaken at other times of the year.
The pilgrimages are also a source of prestige for the Saudi monarch, who is known as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina.
