On October 4th AFS put together an excursion that
allowed us to observe the Muslim holiday Eid Al-Adha and learn about the
Islamic religion. Since we were
going into the Muslim communities we were all instructed to wear a hijab to be
respectful of the Muslim religion.
We were all picked up by the AFS bus in the morning and driven to a
mosque. The mosque we went to was
very close to a military base and it was nice to see the military men mingling
with the Muslims and talking to them.
Another gorgeous aspect of this mosque is that it’s between two
churches. I found that so
beautiful because it goes to show that religions can tolerate each other and
get along even if you don’t practice all of the same things.
We were able to go into the mosque and sit with the rest of
the Muslim ladies at the top of the mosque (the men were downstairs). I learned that the reason Muslims
celebrate Eid-Adha is to commemorate Abraham's faithfulness to Allah when he was commanded
from Allah to kill his only son. Upon hearing this command, he prepared to
submit to Allah's will. But when he was all prepared to do it, Allah told him
that his "sacrifice" had already been fulfilled by him showing that
he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dear to him in order to
submit to God. After the
service we witnessed the slaughtering of two cows at the back entrance to the
mosque. That was a very
interesting thing to watch, I had never seen a slaughtering before. The symbolism behind the sacrificing of
an animal shows the willingness to make sacrifices in our lives in order to stay
on the Straight Path. The animal meat is sectioned into three parts. One-third of the meat is eaten by
immediate family and relatives, one-third is given away to friends, and
one-third is donated to the poor.
After the festivities concluded at the mosque, we met up with
a Muslim man who acted as our guide for the Islamic religion. We took the bus to his home and were
able to ask any question we wanted about Islam and discuss the religion. This part of the day was very
intriguing. I enjoyed hearing a
Muslims point of view on certain issues and understanding the misconceptions
people have about Muslims. Many
times non-Muslims will say that the Muslim women are being oppressed and they
don’t have rights etc. But what I
came to understand that day was that choosing to be a Muslim is a
choice—therefore if you choose to become a Muslim and follow what Allah, it’s
not oppression at all. You have
subjected yourself to following Allah’s word and you have agreed to do what the
Quran says. Moreover people
have a bad perception of the Islamic religion and always reference terrorist
groups and Muslim extremist, but in fact those acts that are done do not line
up with the Quran at all and that is not what the Islamic religion represents
at all. All and all the day was
great an I’m grateful that I had this opportunity to look into the Muslim way
of life.
