Giving is a priority this Eid for Muslims
Charity is emphasized in day for family, friends and feasts
Vibrant, colorful tunics, glittering headdresses and flowing skirts adorn worshipers at Phoenix Convention Center as perfume permeates the air.
Children dressed in miniature versions of their parents’ ethnic and cultural clothes peek from behind their mothers’ skirts as they stand in prayer.
For 30 minutes Tuesday morning, the hall’s peaceful silence was broken only by the imam’s voice. But as he finished, the room gradually filled with wishes of ‘Eid Mubarak!’ embraces, and children delighting in sweets in golden wrappings.
Eid-ul-Adha, the second and last Eid of the year, is a chance for Muslims to come together and celebrate their faith.
Eid is a three-day affair in most Muslimmajority countries. But here in the United States, many make the most of it with just one.
It is a day for family, friends and feasts. And, most significantly, it is a day to continue being grateful for blessings while giving back
in accordance with one of the five pillars of Islam: charity.
Keeping the traditions alive
Acts of charity this Eid come in various ways; one way is to slaughter an animal and distribute a third of the meat to the poor, who otherwise would not have the opportunity to have meat on the holiday.
The sacrificial slaughtering of a sheep, goat or cow is part of the tradition of Eid-ul-Adha, and is performed by Muslims all over the world. This practice is drawn from the story about the Prophet Abraham, which appears both in the Quran and in the Judeo-Christian Bible.
The main plot of the story, despite the few differences between the texts, describes when Abraham was ordered by God to slaughter his beloved son. Abraham decided to go through with it; believing that God knew best.
God rewarded Abraham’s devotion and replaced his son with a ram, which Abraham then sacrificed.
Shahir Safi, a city engineer in Mesa who lives in Gilbert, has a vivid memory of when he was 8 years old in Marina, Calif. His family was living in a mobile home, and one Eid, his dad brought home a sheep to slaughter in their backyard.
The sheep ran away, and Safi remembers trying to catch it with his siblings and friends. His grandmother put kohl on the eyes of the sheep to calm it down, something Safi says is a cultural practice thought to bring ease.
“I looked at the initial slaughtering and for me, as a lesson learned later on as a dad, I felt that my dad probably didn’t explain the spiritual side of it that much,” he said. “I try to focus more on that now that I am a dad myself.”
Although Safi did not slaughter an animal this year, he said he tries to every other year so his children can be aware of the importance of this tradition.
“It is not the blood that reaches God, but it is the act of sacrifice ... and to be able to take that meat, and share with family, share it with friends, share it with the needy,” he said. “So that lesson is really what we are trying to hit home. Don’t be selfish, you’re blessed by Allah to have so much.”
In the West, it is not uncommon to forgo the actual slaughter and instead donate money to an organization to carry out the sacrifice in another country where the need may be greater.
Gul Siddiqi, manager of the Helping Hand for Relief and Development division in Arizona, said the Islamic organization makes sure the donations during Eid-ul-Adha are transferred to the country of choice. People can choose how much to donate depending on which country they prefer and what kind of animal.
Ahmed Shqeirat, Imam of the Islamic Community Center of Tempe, donates to an international relief organization every year.
“I believe [organizations] have more access to the unfortunate communities than I do,” he said. “My family doesn’t have shortage of food, my community doesn’t either, but other communities do, so my money will go to better use there.”
Humanity is key
When Eid comes around, Akram Mansour, a biologist living in Laveen, visits farms in the Valley to pick his sheep, he makes sure it meets the religious requirements for sacrifice — it must be at least a year old, healthy and not pregnant.
He also ensures that the sacrifice is done as humanely as possible.
Jameela Pugh, owner of the EnviroFarm Ranch in San Tan Valley, has been raising her own animals for decades because she has always believed in eating meat that was killed humanely and was properly raised to be as healthy as possible, which is the ideal way in Islam.
Pugh said back in the 1970s, she used to ask about the quality and origins of the meat but was “looked at strangely” for asking. Yet now, it has become a concern for many.
She said she finds it amusing that eating organic, well-raised meat with no growth hormones or antibiotics has become a “trend,“as she describes it, when eating that kind of meat has always been a part of her beliefs and what her religion prescribes.
Pugh opens her farm every Eid-ulAdha to the Muslim community to come and slaughter an animal. This year she allowed people to donate a portion of their meat to the Cultural Cup, a Muslim-run food bank in Phoenix. In return, she subsidized the cost and gave them a tax write-off.
She said she does this because, despite not making any money herself, she is contributing to the community.
Celebrating Eid in Arizona
Besides the practice of slaughtering an animal and donating to charity, Eid is a festive holiday, meant to be celebrated like any other.
Mansour, a Palestinian who grew up in a small village near Jerusalem, said he remembers Eid when he was a child as a time to meet up with all of his cousins, aunts, unclesand grandparents, and spent the full three days celebrating.
Here, however, Mansour said Eid now mainly consists of going to the service and having lunch and dinner with his immediate family and friends; they may go to a friend’s home, or just go out to a restaurant.