Today marks Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice), one of the most important events in the Muslim calendar. Muslims in Belgium and across the world will gather to pray at their local mosques, share meals with loved ones, and provide food to those in need.
The festival remembers the prophet Ibrahim's (known as Abraham in Christianity and Judaism) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail when Allah ordered him to. While he was in the act of sacrificing his son, Allah sent the Angel Gabriel with a huge ram to take his son's place.
The Eid al-Adha celebrations are also known as Eid al-Kabir, which means "great feast", as opposed to Eid al-Saghir ("small feast") marking the end of the month of Ramadan.
No slaughter floors set up
During Eid al-Adha, Muslims are generally required to sacrifice either a sheep, lamb, goat, cow, bull or camel, of which the meat is then split into three portions: one for the family, one for relatives and friends, and one distributed among the poor.
However, the traditional slaughtering of a sheep or lamb will be much more difficult for Brussels Muslims today, as the Brussels Region does not set up temporary slaughter floors on which it can legally do so, Bruzz reported.
In Flanders and Wallonia, such temporary slaughter floors will not be set up, as the law in these regions requires animals to be stunned before slaughter, which goes against the Muslim tradition. The Muslim Executive, a controversial organisation in Belgium, advises Muslims in Belgium to contact their butcher to find out about the various options.
Bruxelles Environnement reminded Brussels residents that slaughtering sheep outside the slaughterhouse or an approved establishment (such as a temporary slaughter floor) is prohibited for private individuals.
The Muslim Council, which replaced the controversial Muslim Executive as the official representative of Muslims in Belgium before the government, invited the entire Muslim community to take advantage of this period to do more good deeds, show more solidarity and share with those who are less fortunate.
Hajj pilgrimage
The Eid al-Adha celebrations take place at the end of the Muslim holy month of Hajj, the period when Muslims go on pilgrimage to Mecca. On Thursday, already more than 1.5 million Muslim devotees gathered in Mecca, in western Saudi Arabia, preparing in Islam’s holiest city for the Hajj rituals which started on Friday.
Undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, is obligatory at least once for Muslims who can afford it. On Saturday, this tide of faithful Muslims flocked to Mount Arafat for the highlight of the pilgrimage. Dressed all in white, some pilgrims arrived as early as dawn to climb the 70-metre-high hill near Mecca where the prophet Mohammed is said to have delivered his last sermon. They did so in extreme heat, with temperatures reaching 46°C.
Credit: Belga
Here, they spent the day reciting the Koran and praying, particularly for the Palestinians in Gaza. This year, the Hajj proceedings happen amid the shadow of the war between Israel and Hamas, devastating Gaza since the outbreak of the war on 7 October.
The continued deadly conflict "provokes a lot of anger in the Muslim world", potentially leading to expressions of solidarity that may not be to the liking of the host country, Saudi Arabia. The Saudi monarchy warned that "no political activity" would be tolerated, as the pilgrimage is strictly devoted to prayers.
On Sunday, Muslim pilgrims performed the last major ritual of the annual pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, the stoning of the steles representing Satan. From dawn onwards, crowds of pilgrims began to line up in front of the steles in the Mina valley, on which they throw stones, before returning to the holy city near Mecca for new circumnavigations around the Kaaba, in the centre of the Great Mosque.
