Low-key Eid celebration slated locally
This holiday marks completion of annual pilgrimage to holy sites
For the second year in a row, local Muslims as well as those around the world, will have a muted celebration of Eidul Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice.
The holiday marks the completion of hajj, or the annual pilgrimage, a gathering of about 2 million Muslims in years past at holy sites in Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims, called hajis, reenact rites to commemorate Abraham, his wife, Hagar, and their son Ishmael. Hajj is mandatory once in their lifetime for healthy adult Muslims who can afford it financially.
Last year, because of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia held a minuscule pilgrimage, allowing 1,000 Muslims to take part in the annual observance. For this year’s hajj, a maximum of 60,000 people will be allowed, all from within the kingdom, all vaccinated.
A Colonie couple who had planned to go for hajj last year, which was then rescheduled for this year, is very disappointed.
“Our hajj trip was almost final this year. My wife and I had given the deposit to the travel agent,” said Intikhab Mohsin Naqvi, an anesthesiologist at Albany Medical Center. He said Saudi Arabia had been opening up slowly the last few months and was allowing a limited number of hajis from overseas until it decided a couple of weeks ago to continue with restrictions. He had gone for hajj in 2006 and was taking his wife, Samar, this time. She said in addition to fulfilling a requirement of her faith, she had been looking forward to the pilgrimage “as an experience in itself.”
According to Muslim belief, the Kaaba, a sanctuary in preislamic times, was constructed by Abraham and Ishmael for celebrating the oneness of God. It is the holiest site for Muslims and when they pray they face its direction.
The Quran, the Islamic holy book, tells of how Abraham took his wife Hagar and their child Ishmael to a mountainous and barren land and left them near the hills of Safa and Marwa in modern-day Mecca. When food and water ran out and Ishmael cried, Hagar ran between the hills seven times seeking food or water. Having no success, she returned to find a spring where her baby had been kicking the sand. This spring, Zamzam Well inside the Masjid al-haram (Sacred Mosque), continues to deliver water in Mecca.
Pilgrims walk counterclockwise seven times around the Kaaba, run back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah, drink Zamzam water, go to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, spend a night in the plain of Muzdalifa and perform a symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing stones at three pillars.
The pilgrims who are financially able to sacrifice a lamb (or share in the cost of a larger animal like a cow) in memory of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael. This differs from the Jewish and Christian belief of Isaac being the son offered for sacrifice. Humanitarian Islamic organizations accept the amount equivalent to the cost of the animals and arrange for them to be slaughtered and their meat distributed in parts of the world where there is poverty.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, the other four being faith in one God, daily prayer, charity and daytime fasting during Ramadan. Hajj takes place from the 8th to 12th of Dhu al-hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the year is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year on which Western calendars are based, hajj is about 11 days earlier each year.
Zubair Ahmed of Albany performed the hajj in 2017 with the tour group Dar es Salam, based in New York City, a company he felt “had leaders who were knowledgeable and educated us” before and during the pilgrimage.
“It was pretty amazing to be surrounded by hundreds of people in your group, surrounded by millions from the world over. There was a sense of oneness, everyone was there for the same reason — worshipping, focused on performing the rituals.”
Ahmed volunteered in his immediate group. “I am a big guy so I was made the leader to hold up the sign for my group. I still remember it said ‘Program 3A Group 24.’ I was also able to help the elderly and sick people.”
He is the president of the Islamic Center of the Capital District in Colonie. “Last Eidul Adha, which was on July 31, our Islamic center was open with limited capacity. We capped off the prayer gathering with about 300 attendees versus the usual 1,500 to 2,000. We did not have any celebration after that, no refreshments or Eid carnival, as we usually do.”
For this Eidul Adha, leaders of the five area Islamic centers have decided, even with CDC and New York State guidelines relaxed, “we will use caution and observe physical distancing, require masks and prayer rugs. We will have two or three Eid services and clean the premises in-between. We do not want super spreader events and are still limiting social gathering as much as possible,” he said.
The Naqvis of Colonie have accepted that “it wasn’t our time to go” on hajj and are at peace with the thought of not participating. “We hope to go in the future,” Samar Naqvi said.