Known as the “Feast of the Sacrifice,” the revered holiday coincides with the final rites of the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Eid al-Adha commemorates the Quranic story of the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ishmael as an act of obedience to God. Before he could perform the sacrifice, God offered a ram as an offering. In the Christian and Jewish accounts, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac. Muslim pilgrims walk during the last rite of the annual hajj and the first day of Eid al-Adha, in Mina near Mecca in Saudi Arabia [Amr Nabil/AP] Many Muslims celebrate the four-day festival by slaughtering animals and sharing the meat with family, friends and the poor. Much of Asia, including Indonesia, Pakistan and India – the three countries with the world’s largest Muslim populations – will celebrate on Sunday. In Saudi Arabia, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims rose at dawn to travel to Mina, a wide valley surrounded by barren mountains where the Prophet Muhammad stopped on his way some 1,400 years ago. A million Muslims from around the world flocked to the holy city of Mecca this week, the biggest pilgrimage since the pandemic upended the annual event. In the high-rise Jamarat complex, pilgrims performed the symbolic stoning of the devil, commemorating Ibrahim’s victory over temptation. It is one of the rituals associated with the Prophet Muhammad and the prophets Ibrahim and Ishmael, or Abraham and Ishmael in the Bible, that are performed every year for these five intense days. Pilgrims threw pebbles at three large pillars that mark the places where the devil tried to interrupt Ibrahim’s sacrifice. It is the most dangerous spot in the hajj, with the masses running to and fro. In 2015, thousands of pilgrims are crushed to death by swelling crowds. The Saudi government has never released a final death toll. In recent years, authorities have improved access with wider roads, electronic gates and a high-speed rail link. All Muslims who are physically and financially able to complete the spiritual journey are supposed to do so at least once in their lifetime. Saudi Arabia has maintained crowd limits this year to curb the spread of the virus, with a COVID-19 vaccine mandated and participation at less than half of pre-pandemic quotas. However, the scenes were a significant step closer to normal. The famous crowds flocked to the holy places, abandoning masks and security measures. At the end of the pilgrimage, one of the main pillars of Islam, men are expected to shave their heads and women to cut a tuft of hair as a sign of renewal. They will return to Mecca to circle the Kaaba cube, which represents the metaphorical house of God, saying goodbye before going home and continuing to celebrate the rest of Eid al-Adha with family. “We feel very proud,” said Indian pilgrim Izhar Anjoom, who was stoning the devil in Mina. “We enjoy it [ourselves] so much so because today is Eid’.
“The prices are crazy”
It is a joyous occasion of which the food is characteristic. But amid soaring food prices that have caused widespread hardship across the Middle East, many say they cannot afford animals for ritual sacrifice. Desperation over the cost of living has undermined the normally booming holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep. In cash-strapped Afghanistan, there is usually a rush to shop for premium animals before the holidays. But this year, galloping global inflation and the economic disaster following the Taliban takeover have put a market of great religious importance beyond the reach of many. “Everyone wants to sacrifice an animal in the name of Allah, but they can’t because they are poor,” Mohammad Nadir said from a cattle market in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, where a few men were haggling. sheep look. “Last year, on this day, I sold 40 to 50 cattle,” said Mohammad Qassim, an Afghan cattle seller. “This year, I only managed to sell two.” An Afghan woman prays on the first day of Eid al-Adha in Kabul [Ali Khara/Reuters] In the al-Shati refugee camp in the besieged Gaza Strip, excited children lined up for offal and offal – a precious offering for those who otherwise cannot afford meat. At a livestock market in Gaza, there were almost no buyers. Vendors said the price of animal feed has quadrupled in recent weeks. “Our lives are full of loss,” lamented Abu Mustafa, a sheep seller in Deir al-Ballah in central Gaza, which has long suffered from widespread unemployment and poverty. On the streets of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian families cut back on the other components of the feast – usually a plethora of dishes, from offal to kaak and maamoul biscuits. “On such days, there was a demand for fruits, sweets and nuts, but as you can see… no one wants to buy now,” complained fruit seller Baligh Hamdi. Palestinians gather to pray in Gaza City during Eid al-Adha [Mohammed Abed/AFP] Wheat and meat prices have soared and hunger has spread as Russia’s war in Ukraine disrupts agriculture and cuts energy supplies. The exorbitant cost of feed and fertilizer has forced livestock sellers to raise prices. In Tripoli, in war-torn Libya, families were looking forward to the holidays after the past two years of the pandemic and more than a decade of violent chaos. But the prices – as high as $2,100 per sheep – had buyers walking around a dusty market worried about the cost of the holiday market. “Honestly, the prices are crazy,” said an exasperated Sabri al-Hadi. Muslims pull a cow before slaughtering it on Eid el-Adha in the Yemeni capital Sanaa [Mohammed Huwais/AFP] But lavish feasting or not, there were communal prayers – a welcome sight in much of the world after years of coronavirus-related restrictions. Worshipers thronged mosques across the Middle East and North Africa on Saturday. Muslims gather to pray in the courtyard of the Al-Nouri Mosque in the old city of Mosul, northern Iraq, during Eid al-Adha [Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP] From Kenya to Russia to Egypt, crowds of worshipers prayed shoulder to shoulder, feet to feet. “I feel very happy that all these people came to pray,” Sahar Mohamed said in Cairo, smiling broadly. “There is love and acceptance between people.” Muslim men perform the Eid al-Adha prayer at the Ahl al-Beit Mosque in the Omani capital Muscat [Mohammed Mahjoub/AFP]
