Saturday, December 30, 2006

The Meaning of Hari Raya Aidiladha

Aidiladha is also commonly known as Hari Raya Korban or Hari Raya Haji in Malaysia.
Celebrated about two months after Hari Raya Aidilfitri, it marks the end of the haj pilgrimage period (about two weeks).

Aidiladha also commemorates the sacrifices made by the Prophet Ibrahim (hence the word 'korban,' which means sacrifice in Arabic), who demonstrated immense faith when he was put to the test by God. Prophet Ibrahim was commanded to offer his son Ismail up for sacrifice, and though it grieved him greatly, he made ready to perform the task. However, as he was about to strike his son, God stopped him and revealed that it was a trial. Ismail's life was spared, and a ram was sacrificed in his place. In similarity with the Bible, that was in reference to Abraham and his son Isaac found in the book of Genesis, Chapter 22.

As such, during Aidiladha, the sacrifice of four-legged animals such as lambs, goats, cows, bulls and camels is performed. The slaughter of the animal is done after the congregational prayer in the morning of Aidiladha and thereafter, it will be distributed.
One third of the meat is given to the individual who made the sacrifice, while the rest is given to the poor and deserving people in the community. Making the sacrifice (korban) is not a compulsory religious duty, but an obligations for those who are able to afford it. The rest of the day is celebrated by visiting relatives and friends. This is one of the cows' meat kept for our own consumption. They will be cooking rendang daging for Saturday's breakfast, a type of curry flavoured beef meat (dry style).My muslim colleagues from Malaysia and the Petronas staff based at the project site made a contribution to buy 13 cows and will be distributed to a few villages. Each village will await for our arrival before slaugthering the cow. The festival began on Saturday in this region plus the Middle East area. As for Malaysia, it falls on Sunday. On Friday night, Malaysians from my company celebrated together with the Petronas staff by having a BBQ night. They BBQ some of the beef and lamb meat for the night.
To be continued .......

1 comment:

ROSE said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

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