Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha feast around the world

Flood of Muslim pilgrims stone devil in final hajj ritual

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims converged on Mina valley in Saudi Arabia Tuesday to join a symbolic stoning of the devil, the final stage of the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The occasion coincides with the first day of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, which is celebrated by Muslims around the world. Keep reading

Islam strictly forbids terrorism, says Grand Mufti in Hajj sermon

Saudi Arabia’s top religious figure urged Muslims on Monday to avoid divisions, chaos and sectarianism, without explicitly speaking of the turmoil unleashed by the Arab Spring.

Hell is the final abode for those who spill the blood of an innocent human, said Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of the Ka'aba. Keep reading

Full text of Leader’s annual message on Hajj

Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, delivered a message to this year’s hajj pilgrims. The following is the full text of the message.... Keep reading

Eid Al-Adha 2013: Muslims Observe The Feast Of Sacrifice [Photos]

Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, is observed on Oct. 15, 2013, in the United States. One of two feast festivals celebrated by Muslims, Eid al-Adha falls on the 10th day of the Islamic calendar’s last month, Dhu al-Hijjah. Keep reading

Muslim students want time off for holidays, too

Hannah Shraim, a 14-year old sophomore at Northwest High School in Germantown, Md., will miss school on Tuesday to celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.

Instead, she and her two older brothers and her parents will go to morning prayers with an estimated 5,000 others at the sprawling Maryland SoccerPlex in nearby Gaithersburg. After prayers, they'll mingle with friends, pass out toys to kids, and then families will head home or out to eat to fuel up for a day full of visiting relatives, exchanging gifts, more prayers, and more eating.

But at some point during the day, Shraim will have to study for her PSAT, which is on Wednesday. Keep reading

Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ʿīd al-aḍḥā,^{[pronunciation 1]} "festival of the sacrifice"), also called Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival,^[1] the Greater Eid, Kurban Bayram (Turkish: Kurban Bayramı; Albanian and Bosnian: kurban-bajram), or Eid e Qurban (Persian: عید قربان‎), is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismail (Ishmael)^a as an act of submission to Allah's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed, before Allah intervened to provide Abraham with a Lamb to sacrifice instead.^[2] In the lunar Islamic calendar, Eid al-Adha falls on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah and lasts for four days.^[3] In the international Gregorian calendar, the dates vary from year to year, drifting approximately 11 days earlier each year.

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.^[4] The word "Eid" appears once in the 5th sura of the Quran, with the meaning "solemn festival".^[5]  Keep reading