By IANS
New Delhi : Families thronging markets for last-minute shopping, kids riding rickety rickshaws and sacrificial goats being led in files – the narrow streets of the walled city of Delhi were brimming with life a day before Eid-ul-Zuha.
With preparations underway for celebrations, the mood was upbeat. The fragrance of ‘ittar’ wafted through the misty air, enveloping one and all.
Eid-ul-Zuha or Bakr-Eid is one of the most important festivals Muslims around the world celebrate. It signifies sacrifice in the name of the Almighty.
“Unlike Eid-ul-Fitr, when celebrations begin early right after the congregational Namaz, during Bakr-Eid, celebrations are a little delayed as the focus is on ritual sacrifice.
“They say the animal which is sacrificed should be dear to your heart because only then will it be a sacrifice in the name of the Almighty in the true sense,” Aman Ahmed, a resident of Daryaganj in central Delhi, told IANS.
“Portions of the sacrificial meat are then distributed among relatives, friends and the poor. The feasting and merrymaking start after that,” he added.
On Eid-ul-Zuha, like during Eid-ul-Fitr, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, everyone is expected to wear at least one piece of new clothing in celebration of the day. Therefore, no matter which way you turn, people are dressed in their finest clothes.
“No matter how poor you maybe, it is considered ‘sunnat’ to wear new clothes on Eid. That’s why while some people splurge during the festival, others make sure that they buy at least one new cloth,” said Asma Khan, a teacher based in north Delhi.
People also give alms to the poor on this day and no one turns away a hungry or a needy person on this day. Many hotels in Old Delhi, for instance, offer food for free to the poor on Eid.
Eid-ul-Zuha commemorates Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son on God’s command. According to Islamic belief, Allah wanted to test Ibrahim and told him to sacrifice his son Ismail.
He agreed to do it, but found his paternal feelings hard to suppress. So, he blindfolded himself before putting Ismail at the altar on Mount Mina near Mecca.
When he removed his blind-fold after the sacrifice, he saw his son standing in front of him. On the altar lay a slaughtered lamb. It is in honour of this test of faith that Muslims around the world sacrifice animals on the occasion to show their faith on Allah.
Eight-year-old Ahana, who has come all the way from Bangalore to celebrate Eid-ul-Zuha with her grandparents in Delhi, said that it’s the biryani and the kebabs that she pines for.
“Somehow, the taste of biryani cooked during Eid is different than on normal occasions,” Ahana said with all her innocence, twirling her multi-coloured glass bangles, which her granddad has gifted her for the festival.
“I love gorging on different fares that my aunts whip up at their homes on this day. In the afternoon and until late at night, we keep hopping from one relatives’ place to the other, feasting,” she smiled.
With the aroma of a variety of fare – piping-hot biryani, mouth-watering kebabs, delicious nihari and sweet surrender phirni, to name just a few – drifting in the air, for millions like Ahana, Eid-ul-Zuha is a day of celebration.