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Eid: Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Zuha

          Karachi/Lucknow: Muslims in India and Pakistan started celebrating a three-day festival of Eid amid Adha, also called Eid-ul-Zuha, on Monday. As is customary, Muslims embraced each other and exchanged Eid greetings after the prayers. Muslims celebrate by attending early-morning prayers, gathering together with friends and sacrificing an animal, commemorating the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son.

        In Lucknow, hordes of colourfully attired men, women and children thronged the streets, chanting verses from the Holy Quran and attended special Eid prayers in mosques. Children and adults dressed in their best embraced each other after the prayers in a ceremony called Id-ul-Milad. "All Muslims make it a point to come to the mosque to offer prayers on Baqr- Eid," said Mazhar Khan, a devotee.

        India with about 120 million Muslims, has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. Popularly known as Baqr-Id, the festival is celebrated on the tenth day of Zil-Haja, the last month of the year according to the Islamic calendar. Buying and selling of cows, calves, goats, sheep and camels has a special significance on Eid-ul-Zuha. According to the Holy Quran, God appeared in Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham's) dream and asked him to sacrifice something that was most dear to him. Prophet Ibrahim decided to sacrifice his own son, Ismail. However, when he put a knife on Ismail's throat, God replaced his son with a goat through a miracle. The festival seeks to convey that sacrifice is supreme. The festival of Eid-ul-Zuha is also associated with the Haj pilgrimage which every able-bodied Muslim must perform at least once in his lifetime.
- February 2, 2004