Jamshedpur, Sept. 13: Eid-ul- Azha or the ‘festival of sacrifice’ was celebrated across the city on Tuesday with religious fervour and gaiety as thousands of faithful flocked to mosques to offer prayers.
Muslims attended prayers at various mosques in the city and hugged each other as an expression of brotherhood.
After the prayers, Muslims sacrificed ‘halal’ animals commemorating the great sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim and urged Muslims to follow his teachings and the Holy Quran.
Also known as Bakrid or Eid-e-Qurban, it is the second major festival of Muslims. The meat of the sacrificed animals is distributed among neighbours, relatives and the poor. Muslims also exchanged greetings with relatives and friends and treated the visitors to their homes with sweet dishes.
Large gatherings were witnessed for morning prayers at mosques at Jugsalai, Sakchi, Burmamines and Dhatkidih as people, dressed in their festive best, visited the houses of their friends and relatives and offered gifts.
This festival is popularly referred to as the ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ where goats and sheep are sacrificed as an offering and hence is also known as Eid al-Adha and Bakra Eid (Eid of the goat).
Muslims follows the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened into the situation and provided him with a sheep to sacrifice instead of his son.
Bakri Eid is one of the most important festivals of the Muslims when they visit their friends and families to greet each other and exchange savouries and gifts.
The faithful congregated in mosques and specially arranged �Id gahs� in open places across the state for special prayers. Community leaders and religious scholars exhorted them to pledge themselves to the eternal values of total devotion to the Almighty, willingness to sacrifice, and love and compassion towards brethren.
Eid-ul-Zuha is celebrated worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God. The festival comes a day after pilgrims conducting Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, descend from Mount Arafat. It is celebrated approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.
Nasreen Begum, a resident of Mango said, “On Eid, we offer ‘namaz’, eat ‘seviyan’ (sweet vermicelli) and greet each other. In the evening I have planned a get together with friends.”
According to tradition, after cutting a goat or a sheep, every Muslim divides the meat into three parts. One part goes to the poor, the second to relatives and the third remains with the family. This is done to show the spirit of remembering the poor and also to include relatives in the celebration.
“Muslim households generally prepare a variety of sumptuous dishes like sheer khorma, payas and biryani,” said Shaikh Sadik from the densely populated Azad Nagar.
