“Eid means celebration or to
celebrate and Adha refers to sacrifice, so the full meaning of Eid ul Adha are
to celebrate the great sacrifice”.
Eid ul adha is celebrated in commemoration of the loyal act of Prophet Ibrahim
to sacrifice His only son Ismael for the Good Will of Allah Almighty. It is
famous as the sacrifice festival in Islamic history. At this specific time and
date of the Islamic calender the 10th of Zil Hajj, Muslims from all over the
world visit Makkah to perform sacred pilgrimage called Hajj in order to pay
regard to Hazrat Ibrahim’s great sacrifice in the way of Allah. In addition, it
is necessary to know for every Muslim that hajj is among the five pillars of the
Religion Islam and is obligatory for every Muslim once in life if he’s able to
bear the expense.
If we go in more details of the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim, He and His wife
and son Ismael were working to raise the foundations of Kabba(the most sacred
house of Allah) when he saw a divine dream in which Allah ordered Ibrahim to
slaughter Ismael. Hazrat Ibrahim shared the great Will of Allah Almighty with
Ismael who happily served himself to get slaughtered by obeying God’s will. When
Ibrahim came to the place where God ordered Him to present sacrifice, satan
appeared and warned Him of slaughtering His only son, but Ibrahim paid no heed
to the satan and just thought to make his Master happy with Him. When Hazrat
Ibrahim placed his son’s head on the slaughter, closed His eyes and said Allah o
Akbar, God showed His miracle and Ismael was replaced by lamb who was
slaughtered.
This great incident holds remarkable importance in the history of Islam and
Allah rewarded Prophet Ibrahim in a way that He made all the Muslim pay selute
to Him in the most sacred manners every year by performing Hajj and making Eid
celebrations.