Eid-ul-Zuha celebrated with fervour all over Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 25:

Eid-ul-Zuha, the festival of brotherhood and sacrifice, was celebrated with great fanfare in mosques all over Odisha today.

Thousands of Muslims thronged mosques in places like Cuttack, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore and Bhubaneswar. Mass namaaz was offered, new clothes worn and people were seen hugging and wishing each other on the occasion of Eid-ul-Zuha, also known as Eid al-Adha or Bakr Eid.

“This is a festival of brotherhood and sacrifice. Allah himself commended the Muslims to follow this tradition. We celebrate it at our homes and Madarsas after offering the namaaz,” said Sahadat Khan, who was at the Unit-IV mosque of Bhubaneswar to celebrate the festival.

“This is the season of festivities for us, the residents of Cuttack. A few days ago, we celebrated Ganesh Puja and now it is Eid-ul-Zuha. After a few more days, there would be Dusserah. We have a tradition of celebrating festivals in harmony and pride ourselves on this,” said another devotee Muzammil Hussain in Cuttack.

Eid al-Adha is the second of two Eid festivals celebrated  each year by Muslims worldwide, the other being Eid-ul-Fitr. Muslims celebrate the day, which marks the end of the Haj pilgrimage, by feasting on meat and dressing up in traditional attire.

It commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, as an act of submission to God’s command, before God intervenes through his angel Jibra’il and informs him that his sacrifice had already been accepted.

The meat from the sacrificed animal is divided into three parts. The family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbours and the remaining third is given to the poor and the needy.