By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Along with the rest of the country, Eid-ul-Azha, the festival of sacrifice was also celebrated in the city by hundreds of Muslim devotees on Monday.
The day’s celebration began with a congregational prayer led by Maulana Imran Jyrwan (Shaqibi) of Madina Mosque Eid-Gah Laban at the Mosque in Laban Eid-Gah here on Monday morning which was then followed by sacrificing animals by the devotees in order to commemorate Hazrat Ibrahim’s (AS) devotion to the Almighty Allah as illustrated by his readiness to give up his dearest son Hazrat Ismail (AS).
Well-off Muslims sacrifice animals and share the sacrificial meat with their relatives, neighbours and poor people. The prayer offered by the devotees to God was to seek peace and prosperity for the nation.
Eid-ul-Azha does not simply commemorate the unique sacrifice made by them, it also testifies eloquently to the way in which both father and son cheerfully offered to suffer any self-sacrifice, however painful or difficult it might be, in order to obey the command of Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds.
Although the word Eid in Arabic means ‘joy,’ Eid-ul-Azha is certainly not an occasion for unbridled fun and frolic, not an opportunity for immoderate gluttony.
It is a solemn, sacred festival which enables a person to enjoy, in the right spirit of Islam, through Azha, sacrifice and surrender, resignation and renunciation, selflessness and total submission to the Will of God.
Eid-ul-Azha, the largest religion festival of Muslims, brings for the Muslims divine blessing, an occasion not only to enjoy but also to receive Allah’s mercy and reward through sacrifice and benevolence, patience and constancy.