Eid al-Azha literally means Eid of sacrifice. Muslims sacrifice an animal on this day. This sacrifice is a symbolic sacrifice, but real sacrifice is required of every Muslim, not only for one day but throughout his entire life.
It is very important to know that Hajj and its practices are a symbolic re –enactment of acts performed by the family of Abraham – the father, Abraham, the son, Ishmael, and the mother, Hajira.
The historical background of Eid al-Azha is that the Prophet Abraham had a dream in which he was sacrificing his young son, Ishmael. Abraham, a great believer in God, took his dream literally and wanted to sacrifice his son, who was about ten years old at the time. But, according to tradition, God Almighty sent his angels and asked him to sacrifice an animal instead of his son. The real sacrifice according to God’s planning, was that Abraham had to settle his son along with his mother, near Makkah, which at that time was nothing but a vast desert. This kind of settlement was a great sacrifice on the part of this family.
This unique settlement of this small family in the desert was the beginning of a new phase in history.
There is a saying that; “There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.” In this case, the saying proved to be true, for a woman and her son had started not only a new generation but a new era.
Basically, two practices are performed by Muslims on the day of Eid al-Azha: congregational prayer in the mosque and the sacrificing of an animal. These two practices reflect the basic spirit of Eid al-Azha, which is a combination of two important states of mind – spirituality and dedication. Prayer is an expression of spirituality and sacrifice is an expression of dedication
