Friday, December 05, 2008

Eid, Er, Moooobarak?

Monday is Eid, iA. I have to admit I am feeling a bit like Scrooge - I am finding it tough to get myself hyped up for this Eid.

It's called the Bigger Eid, but I don't know why. I enjoy Eid-ul-Fitr more. A lot more. There's so many traditions with that Eid. A whole month you are in another world, and suddenly you are back. Gifts. Clothes. Visits. So much.

What about this Eid?

Someone told me there is of course the slaughtering of the cow. Er, I can almost hear the song:

Jingle Bells
The slaughterhouse smells,
Cow has had its day ....
In comes the butcher,
Saying ALLAH-u-AKBAR!
And the cow is dead .. hey!


Too bad we don't have any real Eid songs that are popular, eh? I am not even considering some of the childish Nasheeds like A is for Allah ... (c'mon, get more imaginative man!)

My dad does his sacrifice at a farm with another family friend, so in the morning after prayers they head off north for that. I have outsourced my sacrifice to our local butcher, he calls me when it's done and I just go and pick up the meat. My mother has further outsourced it to Bangladesh.

I wish Eid ul Adha could be more .. fun.

Oh well, Eid Moobarak.

Tis the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Go forth and attend Qurbani
Fa la la la la, la la la la

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL! to your song.
I agree Eid is not all that. I don't look forward to it anymore. I was debating if I should go to work that day or not, but my friend convinced me to not go. Eid is going to be on Monday, such a odd day.

Anonymous said...

Happy Eid Adha tooo youuuuu..

Read this with the music of happy birthday to you! :D

Solace In Islam said...

I must admit, I agree with you. Especially as Eid is so close to Xmas and there is such a lot of hype about Xmas - I cannot help but compare the two events and the one certainly looks like more fun.

As for Eid songs... Dawood Warnsby Ali has a very nice Eid Song... something along the lines of...

These are the days of Eid
Make takbir wherever you are
These are the days of Eid
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar
Lillahi wal hamd...


My four year old dd loves that song!

'liya said...

Love your song versions hehe :D

Eid mubarak!

•°¤*(¯`°sαєє∂α°´¯)*¤°• said...

Eid Mubarak to you too, and I completely agree with you. I wish Eid was more fun.

Anonymous said...

Christmas looks fun because of extravagant decorations, expensive gift giving, and I don't know. How can we make ours fun?

Safiyyah said...

Salaams!

Eid Mubarak!

sobia said...

Eid Mubarak :)

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with all of you. I remember reading some post somewhere where Eid is what you make of it.. screw the snow and the work weekday. Man, its a God given day to celebrate, if we analyze it, we'll be no different than the Ummah who can't decide on what day Eid should fall under!

Anonymous said...

Salam...

I hope you don't mind me giving my two cents on this because I've been thinking about it as well and personally, i think Eid ul Adha is the bigger eid because of what it means and represents - performing Hajj - the ultimate (?) submission to God and the qurban and distributing the meat to family, friends and especially the needy.

Surely these two reasons are more important than the reason behind Eid ul Fitr - which is basically celebrated as a 'reward' for fasting an entire month.

I enjoy Eid ul Fitr too 'cause it is great to reward oneself after abstaining from food and other 'vices' for a month.

But I've been getting involved in more qurbani projects over the years and i feel the joy of rewarding others during Eid ul Adha is greater (the qurbani project required me to raise funds and to look for people to participate in qurban, so that we can distribute the qurbani meat for HIV+ women, children and refugees).

While Eid ul Fitr gives me the opportunity to sacrifice certain pleasures to purify and'improve' myself, Eid ul Adha gives me the opportunity to perform 'sacrifices' to reward and improve the lives of others. So, while both are important, i feel Eid ul Adha is more meaningful.

Hmm...that's what i think anyway. Happy Eid to ya...

mezba said...

Tammy: At least the good thing was Eid was the same day for most people. I actually went for a half day work (after prayers) then came back and sort of enjoyed the day, surprisingly.

shahrzaad: haha, thank you! Same to you.

Solace In Islam: I think it's time we started our own cultural festivities. Eid candy, anyone?

'liya: Eid mubarak to you too.

•°¤*(¯`°sαєє∂α°´¯)*¤°•:

I wish Eid was more fun.

You know, surprisingly, it became more fun! I will post later.

Tammy:

How can we make ours fun?

I think first, we should start by making sure we all celebrate on the same day. And second, have a really huge place to pray together. Toronto does this with the CNE and Rogers Center Eids. Visiting houses is good, plus gifts.

Now what can we substitute for the Christmas tree?

S. E. Jihad Levine "Sister Safiyyah": Eid Mubarak to you too.

boba: Eid Mubarak to you as well.

isheeta: You are one welcome ray of sunshine!

Anonymous: thank you for the thoughtful comment. I will post more on this sometime soon, iA.

Anonymous said...

My daughter asked me is *this eid* a celebration of lights?? They had a project done in school and all holidays have *lights*. I told her the "back at home stories", lol. I still celebrate it like any other eid. We go for prayers, dress the kids, get them gifts(toys). sf

mezba said...

Sf: Now I think about it in Middle East they used to decorate their buildings with lights.