Eid Party Games

I was talking with my Tamil neighbour on the bus who also happens to be a clergy in the neighbouring church (I don't know exactly what his position is but I have seen him in the black robes). He was telling me his son was having a few friends over on Sunday, and they were going to have what he called a Christian games afternoon. When asked to elaborate he said he was going to hold a small quiz on the Bible, and then have them act out a play on some holy script (in preparation for Christmas), amongst others.

That got me thinking. Our Eid is coming up, which marks the end of Ramadan. It is a day of remembrance of Allah, and spent with family, friends and community. We give each other gifts and cards and pay visits. In Muslim countries, the frenzy of last minute Ramadan shopping for Eid dwarfs the Christmas shopping here by many times (remember the population of Muslim countries :-) ).

So I decided to make some 'Islamic Eid' games. They can be fun, played when you visit your friends for Eid, or just to keep the kids busy while you catch up on the latest gossip.

Pin The Black Stone On The Kaaba

On a large white piece of cardboard paper, draw the Kaaba. Color the Kaaba black and make the two golden coloured lines near the top. A small white mark near the base marks where the legendary Black Stone is supposed to be. Give the players a small tack to represent the Stone. Players then take it in turns to put the 'Black Stone' on the Kaaba, blind folded. Mark each person's guess with a small sticker with their name on. The winner is the one who puts the stone closest to where the original mark is.

After the game is over the story of the Black Stone and the construction of the Kaaba by Ibrahim (Abraham pbuh) can be repeated.

Wikipedia: Kaaba and the Black Stone

Pass the prayer cap

Arrange all the players in a circle. Start the azaan tape and pass the prayer cap to the person beside you. The host can, and at any time, stop the azaan tape. The person holding the cap is out. Game continues until the winner is chosen.

Guess the Surah

This is for the non-Arabs. Pass out pages to each player. On each page is a table with two columns. On column 1 write the name of any chapter of the Quran, but in English. For example 'The Cow'. Players will have to guess the proper Arabic name of the surah (in our example it is Bakarah). The one to have the most names filled out in 10 minutes is the winner.

Show and Tell

This is more of a kids game. You bring one item or two. For example bring a small rock and a toy camel figure. The kids have to guess which Islamic story the game is from. In our example it is the story of Prophet Salih (R) who miraculously carved a she-camel out of a stone mountain. After the correct guess the person with the show and tell items will do a short presentation of the Islamic story.

PS. Bringing a cross to the Show and Tell is too easy, and will be considered cheating. So is bringing a boat full of animals.

Guess the Qiblah

Put a blindfold on the player and twirl him/her for a moment. Then, with blindfold on, he/she points to the direction they think is the Qiblah. Repeat for all guests. The guests with the absolute correct answer (or closest if there are none) are selected and the process repeated until there is a winner.

Wikipedia: Qiblah

and finally ...

The Local History Game

Each guest is asked to memorize a short history of any notable Islamic person from their area of origin. For example anyone from Sylhet, Bangladesh, can choose Hazrat Shah Jalal (R). They have to inform the others about what this person did in their area, how he contributed to the culture and history of the locality, and how it affects YOU today. The more local you can get, the better.

That's all I could think of. More suggestions are welcome.

Acknowledgements: I searched for Eid Party Games on the net. I only found one link. The 'Pin The Black Stone On The Kaaba' game is from that site.

Tags: Eid Games