Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ‘Īd al-’Aḍḥá, IPA: [ʕiːd al ʔadˁˈħaː], "festival of sacrifice"), also called Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival, the Greater Eid and Bakrid, is an important 3-day religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet ʾIbrāhīm (Abraham) to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismā'īl (Ishmael)a as an act of submission to God's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead.Eid al-Adha is the latter of the two Eid holidays, the former being Eid al-Fitr. The basis for the Eid al-Adha comes from the 196th verse of the 2nd sura of the Quran. The word "Eid" appears once in the 5th sura of the Quran, with the meaning "solemn festival". The 3 days and 2 nights of Eid al-Adha are celebrated annually on the 10th, 11th and 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the twelfth and last month of the lunar Islamic calendar. In the international Gregorian calendar, the dates vary from year to year, drifting approximately 11 days earlier each year.
Like Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a Sunnah prayer of two rakats followed by a sermon (khuṭbah). Eid al-Adha celebrations start after the descent of the Hajj from Mount Arafat, a hill east of Mecca. Ritual observance of the holiday lasts until sunset of the 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah. Eid sacrifice may take place until sunset on the 13th day. The days of Eid have been singled out in the Hadith as "days of remembrance". The days of Tashriq are from the Fajr of the 9th of Dhul Hijjah up to the Asr of the 13th of Dhul Hijjah (5 days and 4 nights). This equals 23 prayers: 5 on the 9th-12th, which equal 20, and 3 on the 13th.
Another Arabic word for "sacrifice" is Qurbān (Arabic: قربان), which is borrowed into Dari Persian and Standard Persian as عید قربان (Eyd-e Ghorbân), Tajik Persian as Иди Қурбон (Idi Qurbon), Kazakh as Құрбан айт (Qurban ayt), Uyghur as Qurban Heyit, and also into various Indo-Aryan languages such as Bengali as কোরবানির ঈদ Korbanir Id. Other languages combined the Arabic word qurbān with local terms for "festival", as in Kurdish (Cejna Qurbanê), Pashto (د قربانۍ اختر da Qurbānəi Axtar), Turkish (Kurban Bayramı), Turkmen (Gurban Baýramy), Azeri (Qurban Bayramı), Tatar (Qorban Bäyräme), Albanian (Kurban Bajrami), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (Kurban bajram, Курбан бајрам), Russian (Курбан-байрам), Bulgarian and Macedonian (Курбан Бајрам), Mandarin Chinese (古尔邦节 Gúěrbāng Jié), and Malaysian and Indonesian (Hari Raya Korban, Qurbani).
Eid al-Kabir, an Arabic term meaning "the Greater Eid" (the "Lesser Eid" being Eid al-Fitr), is used in Yemen, Syria, and North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt). The term was borrowed directly into French as Aïd el-Kebir. Translations of "Big Eid" or "Greater Eid" are used in Pashto (لوی اختر Loy Axtar), Kashmiri (Baed Eid), Hindi and Urdu (Baṛī Īd), Tamil (Peru Nāl, "Great Day") and Malayalam (Bali Perunnal, "Great Day of Sacrifice").
Some names refer to the fact that the holiday occurs after the culmination of the annual Hajj. Such names are used in Malaysian and Indonesian (Hari Raya Haji "Hajj celebration day", Lebaran Haji), and Tamil (Hajji Peru Nāl).In Urdu- and Hindi-speaking areas, the festival is also called Bakr Īd, stemming from the Urdu-Hindi word bakrī, "goat", because of the tradition of sacrificing a goat in South Asia. This term is also borrowed into other languages, such as Tamil Bakr Eid Peru Nāl.
Other local names include Mandarin Chinese 宰牲节 Zǎishēng Jié ("Slaughter-livestock Festival") as well as Tfaska Tamoqqart in the Berber language of Djerba, Tabaski or Tobaski in Wolof, Babbar Sallah in Nigerian languages, Pagdiriwang ng Sakripisyo in Filipino and ciida gawraca in Somali.
Eid al-Adha has had other names outside the Muslim world. The name is often simply translated into the local language, such as English Feast of the Sacrifice, German Opferfest, Dutch Offerfeest, Romanian Sărbătoarea Sacrificiului, and Hungarian Áldozati ünnep. In Spanish it is known as Fiesta del Cordero ("Festival of the Lamb").
According to Islamic tradition, approximately four thousand years ago, the valley of Mecca (in what is now Saudi Arabia) was a dry, rocky and uninhabited place. Abraham ('Ibraheem in Arabic) was instructed to bring his Egyptian wife Hajir (Hāǧar) and Ishmael, his only child at the time (Ismā'īl), to Arabia from the land of Canaan by God's command.[citation needed]
As Abraham was preparing for his return journey back to Canaan, Hajar asked him, "Did God order you to leave us here? Or are you leaving us here to die." Abraham turned around to face his wife. He was so sad that he couldn't say anything. He pointed to the sky showing that God commanded him to do so. Hajar said, "Then God will not waste us; you can go". Though Abraham had left a large quantity of food and water with Hajar and Ishmael, the supplies quickly ran out, and within a few days the two began to feel the pangs of hunger and dehydration.
Hajar ran up and down between two hills called Al-Safa and Al-Marwah seven times, in her desperate quest for water. Exhausted, she finally collapsed beside her baby Ishmael and prayed to God for deliverance. Miraculously, a spring of water gushed forth from the earth at the feet of baby Ishmael. Other accounts have the angel Gabriel (Jibrail) striking the earth and causing the spring to flow in abundance. With this secure water supply, known as the Zamzam Well, they were not only able to provide for their own needs, but were also able to trade water with passing nomads for food and supplies.Years later, Abraham was instructed by God to return from Canaan to build a place of worship adjacent to Hagar's well (the Zamzam Well). Abraham and Ishmael constructed a stone and mortar structure —known as the Kaaba— which was to be the gathering place for all who wished to strengthen their faith in God. As the years passed, Ishmael was blessed with Prophethood (Nubuwwah) and gave the nomads of the desert his message of submission to God. After many centuries, Mecca became a thriving desert city and a major center for trade, thanks to its reliable water source, the well of Zamzam.
When Ishmael was about 13 (Abraham being 99), God decided to test their faith in public. Abraham had a recurring dream, in which God was commanding him to offer his son as a sacrifice – an unimaginable act – sacrificing his son, which God had granted him after many years of deep prayer. Abraham knew that the dreams of the prophets were divinely inspired, and one of the ways in which God communicated with his prophets. When the intent of the dreams became clear to him, Abraham decided to fulfill God's command and offer Ishmael for sacrifice.
Although Abraham was ready to sacrifice his dearest for God's sake, he could not just go and drag his son to the place of sacrifice without his consent. Ishmael had to be consulted as to whether he was willing to give up his life as fulfillment to God's command. This consultation would be a major test of Ishmael's maturity in faith, love and commitment for God, willingness to obey his father and sacrifice his own life for the sake of God.
Abraham presented the matter to his son and asked for his opinion about the dreams of slaughtering him. Ishmael did not show any hesitation or reservation even for a moment. He said, "Father, do what you have been commanded. You will find me, Insha'Allah (God willing), to be very patient." His mature response, his deep insight into the nature of his father’s dreams, his commitment to God, and ultimately his willingness to sacrifice his own life for the sake of God were all unprecedented.
Abraham could not bear to watch his son die so he covered his eyes by a blindfold. When he cut Ishmael's throat and removed the blindfold, he was astonished to see that Ishmael was unharmed and instead, he found a dead ram which was slaughtered. Abraham had passed the test by his willingness to carry out God's command.
This is mentioned in the Quran as follows:"O my Lord! Grant me a righteous (son)!" So We gave him the good news of a boy, possessing forbearance. And when (his son) was old enough to walk and work with him, (Abraham) said: O my dear son, I see in vision that I offer you in sacrifice: Now see what is your view!" (The son) said: "O my father! Do what you are commanded; if Allah wills, you will find me one practising patience and steadfastness!" So when they both submitted and he threw him down upon his forehead, We called out to him saying: O Ibraheem! You have indeed fulfilled the vision; surely thus do We reward those who do good. Most surely this was a manifest trial. And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice. And We perpetuated (praise) to him among the later generations. "Peace and salutation to Abraham!" Thus indeed do We reward those who do right. Surely he was one of Our believing servants.
As a reward for this sacrifice, God then granted Abraham the good news of the birth of his second son, Is-haaq (Isaac):And We gave him the good news of Is-haaq, a prophet from among the righteous.
Abraham had shown that his love for God superseded all others: that he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dearest to him in submission to God's command. Muslims commemorate this ultimate act of sacrifice every year during Eid al-Adha.Read More>>
