Up to four million Muslims are expected to perform Hajj this year (Image: Channel 4)

Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, is being celebrated today and tomorrow by millions of Muslims around the world.

The festival, which marks the prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his own son Ismail for the sake of the almighty. Today also marks the climax of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia by up to four million Muslims.

Islamic scripture states that in an act of mercy, Ismail’s life was spared and instead a goat was symbolically sacrificed. As such, Eid is usually celebrated in Muslim nations with the ritual slaughter of a goat, sheep or other livestock, with the meat distributed among family, friends and the needy. This has led to Eid al-Adha’s alternative name in the subcontinent of Bakra Id, or ‘goat festival’.

Wangee Road in Lakemba is usually packed out with the faithful on Eid morning, all of whom can’t fit into the mosque (Image: ABC)

In most Muslim countries, today is the first of three days of public holidays. Businesses in many countries also permitted employees to take yesterday off work, allowing them to make the necessary preparations or travel to be with their family on Eid. For Muslims in non-Muslim majority nations such as Australia, Eid is a regular business day which is often begun with prayers in the morning before work begins. The evening is usually spent with family or friends. The Melbourne-based Islamic Council of Victoria have organised an Eid festival at Melbourne Showgrounds today and tomorrow.

Eid falls annually on the tenth date of the Islamic calendar month of Dhu al-Hijjah. Being a lunar calendar, the date moves forward by about ten days in relation to each Gregorian calendar year. Additionally, the month officially begins with the sighting of the new crescent moon. Differences in astronomical calculation technique, and varying degrees of visibility mean that the month began one day later in Pakistan and India. As such, Muslims in South Asia are expected to celebrate tomorrow.

UrbanDuniya wishes all of its readers a happy, healthy and joyous Eid al-Adha!