Eid Mubarak!

Salams/peace ya'llsin. (don't ask i just like saying that word, online.)

I'm still waiting/wanting to reply my thoughts after reading Russell's post, but until then -

EID MUBARAK!

(pronounced eed mu-ba-ruk)

meaning Happy Eid!

What's EID

Muslims have two holidays - Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha.

Eid ul-Fitr is a very happy day after the month of Ramadan where we praise God in a special prayer in the morning and meet and greet everyone in our community. After prayer, the food and social festivities began (heck yeah!). We celebrated Eid ul-Fitr back in October. Jesse, I am sure you can recall this - just think back to the free dinners MSU had during the month of Ramadan to break fast in the evening (lol).

Eid ul-Adha starts this Monday December 8th. In this three-day holiday, we celebrate and commemorate the day Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice what was most, most precious and dear to his heart in this world, his son Isaac. IMAGINE, after Abraham told Isaac about this, Isaac told him to go ahead and sacrifice him if this was God's will! And as difficult as it was for him, Abraham complied, and God the Most Merciful had Isaac replaced by a sheep and his son was safe and sound.

I find this historical event SO beautiful:

1) What a test of faith - sacrificing what is most precious to you requires true and firm faith in God
2) God is SO MERCIFUL. He tested Abraham, and all He wanted to see is if Abraham would go through with it, and once He saw that he was willing to, he restored his son to him safely.

In commemoration of Abraham's sacrifice, Muslims are obligated to either sacrifice a sheep/goat/cow or donate money for poor people to do so. This process is called Qurbani (meaning sacrifice). We then distribute the meat amongst neighbors, the poor, and cook some for dinner.

BTW, Eid ul-Adha also goes hand-in-hand with Hajj, a trip to Mecca that every able-Muslim must perform in their lifetime. This year, 4 million people are performing Hajj - OH DANG! All those rows and rows of white things in the picture... yeah, that's people. This btw is the life-tranforming trip that Malcolm went on that caused him to realize that racial problems could be transcended.

Now that you know what we're celebrating, here's...

How I'm gonna celebrate:

So, in the morning, I'm going to eat some special sweets that my mom prepares each Eid and then get ready for Eid prayer. My family and I will then go to the Anaheim Convention Center, one of the local places Eid prayer is held. I'll be wearing some shiny new clothes (and Pakistani clothes are literally shiny, too, LOL), will hear a short sermon about this special holiday, pray me some prayer, and then.... come to school to study for my final at 4pm!

My dad is going to go to some farm in Corona/Riverside/somewhere not in Orange County with his brother to sacrifice a goat. When the goat comes home, I leave, because I really don't like the smell of goat meat. My mom will then cook something fabulous while I enjoy some random food - I'm feeling Fish Grill.

Now, as my friend put it, "it feels like finals are the grinch who stole Eid!" I'm hoping we don't let this happen and throw in lots of food-related adventures and random breaks for the sake of celebrating. This also brings to mind a challenge Muslims in America face: finding a way to celebrate Eid right. Currently, things tend to be quite boring, which is a shame to say the least. I agree with my sister, maybe we do need to put up some "Eid lights" on our house lol.

Anyways, Eid Mubarak ya'll.
Peace, Love, and Light.