Muslims in the country are set to celebrate 2019’s Idd-ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) on Monday with solemnity and religious fervour.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i has declared Monday, August 12 a public holiday.
The holiday is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah but the almighty in his benign mercy spared the son and instead sent a ram to be sacrificed.
Idd-ul-Adha celebrations start at the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide.
One of the finest institutions of Islam is Hajj and its performance is obligatory at least once in a lifetime upon every Muslim who is mentally, financially and physically fit.
The Idd is celebrated annually on the 10th day of the 12th and the last Islamic month of Dhul-Hijjah of the lunar calendar.
It is the second of the two major religious festivals after Idd-ul-Fitr which is celebrated to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadhan.
Fervent preparations usually take place among the Muslim communities to mark the religious occasion as new clothing is bought to celebrate the day and goats and sheep are bought for slaughter.
In Mombasa shoppers and strollers could be seen entering and leaving shopping bazaars looking for new clothes and children items for games.
Most businesspeople have decorated their premises on the occasion of the Idd as shopping for new clothes among Muslim faithful increases.
Muslims dress themselves in new clothes on Idd day and morning prayers are held in open grounds, mosques and community halls.
Those with means slaughter animals and the meat is distributed among neighbours, friends, family and the poor.
By Hussein Abdullahi
