Eid Mubarak! (Happy Eid!)

The Hajj is one of the most important holidays for Muslims, right up there with Ramadan, (though I must confess, I'm not sure which is more important). You can see a great interactive graphic/map of the hajj on here on cnn.com. I'll give a bit of an explanation below, but for those of you who are more knowledgeable, feel free to comment!

So what is the Hajj, exactly? Some people are probably aware that in Islam, there are five pillars that each Muslim must do in his or her life: giving alms, saying the shahadah (There is no God but Allah and Mohamed is his prophet), praying five times a day, fasting during Ramadan and lastly, going on the pilgrimage to Mecca, or, the Hajj. The Hajj in particular retraces some of the steps of Ibrahim (Abraham, as most westerners would know him) as outlined in the Qu'ran, where Ibrahim was willing to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God.

Here in Bahrain, while many people are not participating the pilgrimage to Mecca, there are plenty of others who are participating in celebrations. One thing that is commonly practiced is the killing of a sheep, and then giving the meat to people who are in need. I haven't seen the actual slaughter yet, but I did see a very large truck-load of sheep being taken somewhere. And probably not to the green pastures near still waters.

As for Alison and I, we are grateful that this Eid (which means festival) falls on the weekend of American Thanksgiving! Alison does not have school tomorrow (Thursday) and does not start school again till next Wednesday. Nor am I teaching classes at the ACEC, which means we both have some time off. Tomorrow we are hosting thanksgiving in conjunction with our neighbor, Linda, for 25 or 30 some odd people! Its going to be quite a feat, none of it organized by me. Me - I'm just the brute labor. I'll probably be moving furniture and carrying turkeys.

The Masjid al Haram, the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The large black structure in the middle of the mosque is the directions that all Muslims pray towards, where ever they are in the world.