Muslims celebrated Eid Al-Adha throughout the United States on Monday, with passion, prayers and plates full of delicacies. The weather was perfect, sunny and cool. Majority had taken Monday off making it a three-day weekend.
Mosques made arrangements for Eid prayers in four shifts from 7.30 a.m. to 11.45 a.m. to accommodate the ever-growing Muslim population.
At one mosque, the imam was late for leading the prayers. His name was paged a few times before he came apologizing and blaming the rush hour traffic for his delay.
Meat shops and farms did roaring business with the average price of goat and lamb being $250. Most shops did not deliver the meat the same day.
“I really miss the fun of having fresh meat. Here for Eid Al-Adha we eat desserts, chicken and maybe some kebab made from some previous day’s meat. Our children do not experience the kind of joy and excitement we had,” a lady commented to Arab News.
This Eid Al-Adha, a new farm and slaughterhouse opened, but not without controversy. The Hilliard Fresh Farm owned by Mahdi Badawi was welcomed by Muslims as they would be able to get fresh halal meat from the farm.
But some neighbors complained about flies, stench the horror of having a slaughterhouse so close by. Badawi’s farm is on 5.14 acres and township zoning does not apply to agricultural property in excess of five acres.
Badawi has a permit and is within his legal rights to raise animals and slaughter them on his farm. The neighbors are petitioning to change the law. Badawi feels he is being targeted because he is a Muslim. His neighbors deny that and say they are sick of the smell, the sights and the noise. It has nothing to do with religion.
Imams and sheikhs in the Eid khutba reminded Muslims to remember many things like the last sermon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), where he abolished usury, reminded us that all were equal and none had superiority over another; and to treat women fairly.
This message was universal as the Prophet (PBUH) addressed it to all, ‘People’ and not specifically to Muslims. We should also learn from Prophet Ibrahim to question wrong and not follow wrong traditions even if our parents are the perpetuators.
Prophet Ibrahim’s father was an idol maker and worshipper, but he did not follow his father’s footsteps.

Source: Arab News