Happy Eid ul Azha to everyone across the globe

The Muslims all over the world celebrate the Eid ul Azha (or Adha) on the 10th of last Islamic month of Zil Hajjah. Eidain or the two Eids that is the Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Azha are the two festivities of the Muslim world which are celebrated with religious fervor and zeal. The Eid ul Fitr is celebrated just after the month of Ramadan (during the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast for 29-30 days and abstain themselves from eating from dawn to dusk beside some other conditions) on the 1st day of the Shawal.

The word “Eid” is an Arabic word that means “festival” and Eid-ul-Azha means the Greater Festival as it is celebrated to remember the sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), who in obedience to the command of the Almighty took his beloved son to sacrifice in the name of his Creator. While he blindfolded himself so that his son’s blood doesn’t distract him from the supreme sacrifice, the Allah Almighty acknowledging his sacrifice and willingness to obey His command replaced Ismail with a ram. And since that day, Muslims all over the world sacrifice an animal (goat, ram, cow or even camel) to commemorate the greatest sacrifice ever.

Like many who could afford to sacrifice, I (by the grace of Almighty) also went to the animal market with my son and a friend. There were lot of buyers and animals. Every buyer was trying to purchase a good animal for a lesser cost while the sellers were trying to pocket huge profits. After lot of survey and negotiations, we finally purchased one at a cost that my pocket allowed. We took the goats home in a taxi and my sons straightaway started to feed the goat as it was our guest for one night only.

Today after the Eid prayers, we took the goat to a central place with requisite facilities and had our goat sacrificed by the butcher, which my friend had arranged. On Eid days, everyone who has the slightest knowhow of using a knife becomes a butcher and charge a very high labour to do the goat. This “butcher” happened to be a grill maker, who was doing a part time this morning. I don’t have to tell you what he did to our goat, but at least he did what he could.

The aim of sacrifice, like all other fundamentals of Islam, is to lead one to self righteousness. To explicate its purpose, Allah says in the Quran, "It is not their meat, nor their blood, that reaches Allah; it is their piety that reaches Him."

Besides following the footsteps of the Prophet Ibrahim, the aim of sacrifice has greater meanings. Each sacrificial animal’s meat is to be divided into three portions; one is to be kept for own family, while of the other two, one part is to be distributed among the poor who cannot afford to sacrifice and thus including them in our own festivities and making them feel part of the whole. The third portion is to be distributed among the relatives, but starting from the lower level of financial well being thereby also providing them a chance to celebrate the festivities.

So back home, we divided the meat into three portions and distributed as per the teachings. While we were distributing, we were also receiving meat from friends and neighbours. So while I am writing the post after having distributed the two shares, now my doorbell is constantly ringing as others are sending in. This is the spirit of the day as everyone remembers the poor and the friends and neighbours.

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Time changes

My friend SAJS is very nostalgic about his past – his childhood days when he would jump in the canal flowing next to his village, like all others kid of his village did in the summers. He would watch children playing pebbles, a favourite game in the villages, or perhaps he also joined in and bagged all the pebbles from others (or perhaps lost all of his own and went sobbing home).

When he grew up, he was put to the village school that was the day when a writer was born far away in a small village near Mandi Bahauddin. He would often write small words on the sand, which probably made a theme for him to write a book later in his literary life. He had a passion for reading and writing since his childhood, I would say and this is what reflects from most of his posts. Perhaps for this reason, he loved writing letters and sending eid cards to his friends and family when he moved out of his village for higher education. In one of his recent posts, he has expressed his love for these greeting cards and has also displayed a greeting banner I once drew and posted on the notice board of our academy where we both happened to be undergoing training.

Now that the times have changed, and so have the habits and way of life of people even in the rural areas. People who once used to listen to the songs from the Urdu and Punjabi films on the radio and commentary on cricket and hockey matches played in and foreign lands are now glued to the 24 hours run TV channels. Listening to radio is no more the priority. During Shirazi’s youth, the black and white PTV only aired its programmes from 6-11 PM with a weekly break on Wednesday perhaps. We had few good prgrammes to watch everyday rather than the Urdu dramas full of family feuds and intrigues by the otherwise not-doing-anything women folk of our families.

Those were the days when life was simple and compassionate. People loved to write letters to their near and dear ones and waited for the postman to deliver the replies or “re” of todays. And we also send greeting cards on Eid. Children would throng the greeting cards stalls opened on every corner of the street and buy cards on behalf of their families. And am sure so did SAJS.

But now times have changed, as these change in the lifespan of every generation. Fashion has changed too. We now see women wearing long shirts, lose from bottom, as did women in the 50s. The LPs that we grabbed in our youth and played on the turn tables have been replaced with CDs and even USBs directly inserted into car AV paying devices or even stored in the cell phones. While once we waited for the post man for letters and eid cards - now we wait for SMSs and E-Mails instead, as technological developments have overtaken human emotions.

This change is necessary as inertia in life leads to boredom and stagnancy. So let the life take its own course. But at the same time it is also good to recall old memories and feel nostalgic about it as this is what remains when one has gone past its prime youth.

So say good bye to old habits, traditions and way of living - who knows what is in the store for next year?

Related Reading: Greeting Cards

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