Millions of Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, USA, England and other Gulf countries celebrated Eid-ul-Azha with religious zeal and fervour on Saturday. Thousands of Muslims offered their Eid prayers at Masjid al-Haram and Masjid-e-Nabvi on Saturday morning. An estimated 2.5 million people perform Hajj every year.
Eid-ul-Azha also celebrated in the Palestine, Philippine, France, Canada, European countries, United States and Austria as well. The three-day festival, also known as Feast of the Sacrifice, begins annually on the 10th of Islamic month of Zilhij, a day after the day of Arafah, when millions of Muslims perform Hajj in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and mandatory for every single Muslim (whoever can afford) to perform the pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime.
Haj is combined with festivities of Eid-ul-Adha to commemorate the acts of Prophet Ibrahim (RA) when he expressed willingness to sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail (RA) in obedience to God. On Eid-ul-Adha, Muslims sacrifice halal four-legged animals (depending on their affordability) like sheep, goat, cow or camel and then divide the meat into three equal portions. They can keep the first portion for themselves, but the second must be distributed among relatives, neighbours and friends while the third has to be allocated for poor in the community. The sacrifice should be performed after Eid prayers. All mosques and Islamic centres have made special arrangements for Eid prayers. Eid-ul-Adha will be celebrated on Monday in Pakistan.