Much of Asia, including India, Indonesia, and Pakistan, -the three countries with the largest Muslim populations in the world – will observe Eid al-Adha, one of the biggest holidays of the Islamic calendar, on Sunday.
Eid al-Adha commemorates the Quranic tale of Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Before he could carry out the sacrifice, God provided a ram as an offering.
Muslims are celebrating the four-day feast by ritually slaughtering livestock and distributing the meat among family, friends, and the poor.
In Saudi Arabia, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims rose at dawn to trek to Mina, a wide valley ringed by barren mountains where Prophet Muhammed stopped on his route some 1,400 years ago. One million Muslims from around the world flocked this week to the holy city of Mecca, the largest pilgrimage since the pandemic upended the annual event.
Millions of Muslims across the globe – including in countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Kenya and Yemen – celebrated Eid al-Adha, on Saturday.
