Eid Adha Mabrouk Everybody

Today is the 2nd day of the Eid al-Adha. This feast is the most important one in the Islamic world. If they are not performing Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca than the majority of Muslims will sacrifice a sheep on the first day and distribute most of it to the poor people. But the Eid is also very much a family day. Muslims go in the morning to the special Eid prayer and when it ends they return home in processions chanting Allahu Akbar ( God is Great!). Every Eid that I hear this song I feel a weird flashback as if I was back in Arabia at the time of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and that I was taking part in the procession which entered Mecca victoriously. After the prayers, the families who are making a sacrifice in honour of the Jewish Prophet Abraham who was ordered to prove his faith by sacrificing his own son and who was saved from doing this at the last minute by God...This is a holiday all over the Muslim World, it usually lasts from 4 to 10 days (lucky them) depending on which country you live in. In Libya it is 4 days. It is fun also because we make barbecues and there is a general air of picnic. In the afternoon/evening families visit each other from the closest to the most remote cousins of the tribe ; no one is left out. Neighbours also visit each other and send greetings. Families lso visit the graves of their loved ones and pray for them. This season should better be spent in a Muslim country/or environment.

However the Eid is only the culmination of the period of the pilgrimage or Hajj as stated above. I was going to write about it in detail , but I found that the BBC have done an accurate story so I'll leave you to check it out step by step here and learn a little bit more about the Muslim culture, while I go talk to my family online since I'm missing the whole fun this year.
Have fun everyone with the 'glaiya', '3usban' and all the goodies.. gosh I'm salivating.