Hari Raya Aidiladha

The festival of Hari Raya Aidil Adha is a festival which commemorates the concept of ‘Korban’ or sacrifice. The festival, which in Malaysia is also known as Hari Raya Haji celebrates an act of selfless sacrifice performed by Prophet Ibrahim. The Holy Quran mentions the incident and says that at one instance, Prophet Ibrahim had been willing to sacrifice his son Prophet Ismail in order to meet the dictates of Allah. Just as Prophet Ibrahim was about to deliver his fatal blow, Allah appeared and replaced Prophet Ismail with a ram.
Aside from commemorating this selfless act of sacrifice; the festival also marks the end of the holy annual pilgrimage, Haj. Haj is considered to be the fifth pillar of Islam and is expected to be performed by every able-bodied Muslim at least once during his/her lifetime. During Haj, thousands of Muslims congregate on the holy land in Mecca and perform various rituals.
Hari Raya Haji, according to Islamic calendar Hiraj is slated for the 10th day of Dhul Hija, the last month of the Islamic calendar. The festival is usually celebrated seventy days after the holy month of Ramadhan and in 2013; the festival will be celebrated over three days starting from 15th October.
During Hari Raya Aidil Adha or ‘the festival of sacrifice’, families or local communities come together to celebrate Prophet Ibrahim’s act of Korban by sacrificing animals like lambs, goats, cows, bulls and camels. The animals are slain according to proper Islamic rites and the meat is then distributed in three parts.
Typically, the family or the local community which supplied the animal retains one third of the meat, another third is distributed amongst friends, relatives and neighbors while the rest is given to the poor and needy. Generally Muslims who can afford to perform the sacrifice choose to do so though they certainly are not under any obligation.
A typical day of Hari Raya Aidil Adha, features congregational prayers held early in the morning at the local mosque. The animal sacrifice is then usually performed within the courtyard of the mosque. After the sacrifice commemorating Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his own progeny, the members of the congregation disperse as they head out to spend the rest of the day with  friends and family as is customary during a festival.