Muslims set to celebrate Idd-ul-Adha

Muslims are set to celebrate this year’s Idd-ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) on tomorrow Tuesday with solemnity and religious fervor. The government has declared Tuesday, August 21, 2018 a public holiday to enable Muslims mark the day.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i in a gazette notice said, ‘it is notified for the general information of the public that Tuesday, August 21, will be a public holiday to mark the Idd-ul-Adha’.

The holiday is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to follow Allah’s (God’s) command to sacrifice his son (Ishmael) but the Almighty in his benign mercy spared the son and instead sent a ram to be sacrificed.

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Idd-ul-Adha celebrations start at the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide.

One of the finest institutions of Islam is Hajj and its performance is obligatory at least once in a lifetime upon every Muslim who is mentally, financially and physically fit. Eid is celebrated annually on the 10th day of the 12th and the last Islamic month of Dhul-Hijjah of the lunar calendar.

It is the second of the two major religious festivals after Idd-ul-Fitr, which is celebrated to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadhan.

Fervent preparations are taking place among the Muslim communities to mark the religious festival as new clothes are bought and goats and sheep bought for slaughter. In Mombasa, shoppers and strollers could be seen in the streets over the weekend looking for new clothes and children items for games.

Muslims dress themselves in new attire and morning prayers are held on open grounds, mosques and community halls. Those who can afford slaughter animals and the meat is shared among neighbours, friends, family and the poor.

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Sheikh Yussuf Athman, a store owner in Bondeni area, said they are making good sales as shoppers have been flocking the clothing stores for the last couple of days to make purchases.

And livestock traders from Garissa and Tana River counties have been bringing in goats and sheep to the coastal city for sale as their demand goes up because of the occasion. ( By Hussein Abdullahi / KNA)