Islamic world is celebrating Eid al-Adha

Islamic world is celebrating Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice. Islamic countries will begin to celebrate Eid al-Adha in three different days due to different calculating methods in Islamic calendar, or Hijri calendar, as Anatolia news agency notes. Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. Being a purely lunar calendar, it is not synchronized with the seasons. With an annual drift of 10 or 11 days, the seasonal relation repeats about every 33 Islamic years. Eid al-Adha will begin on October 25 in Turkey, Macedonia and Albania, on October 27 in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and on October 26 in other Islamic countries. Eid al-Adha is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honor the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a sheep to sacrifice instead. The basis for the Eid al-Adha comes from the 196th verse of sura 2 (Al-Baqara) of the Quran. Eid al-Adha celebrations start after the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descent from Mount Arafat. The meat from the sacrificed animal is divided into three parts. The family retains one third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the other third is given to the poor and needy. The regular charitable practices of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid al-Adha by concerted efforts to see that no impoverished person is left without an opportunity to partake in the sacrificial meal during these days.