Muslims to celebrate Eid al-Adha on Monday

Rochdale's Muslim community will celebrate Eid al-Adha on Monday (8 December).

The imams of the town's mosques confirmed the date at a recent meeting of the Ruet-i-Hilal (Sighting of the new moon) Committee of Rochdale, based on information from the British Observatory and the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Morocco.

Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah.

The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey Allah and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to kill his son, Allah intervened: instead Allah provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice an animal, as a reminder of Ibrahim's obedience to Allah.

Eid al-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat.