Entire India is gearing up for Eid-ul-Adha or Bakrid, the second most important Muslim festival after Ramzan Eid, on October 16. The Dawoodi Bohras celebrated Bakrid on Monday, two days ahead of other Muslims, as they follow the Egyptian calendar. Mosques, Eidgahs and Sufi shrines are being decked up even as bazaars are abuzz with hordes of people buying new clothes, footwears, jewellery and perfumes. Housewives are busy stocking a variety of masala (spices) to prepare sheer korma, biryani and mutton korma on the occasion.
Once they return from mosques or Eidgahs after offering the special morning prayer, Muslims will sacrifice goats. Legend has it that Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) had offered to sacrifice his son Ismail as God wanted him to sacrifice his dearest thing. But God only wanted to test Ibrahim’s devotion and sent a lamb from heaven to sacrifice. Bakrid is commemoration of that event ages ago. “It is to show that nothing is more important or sacrosanct than a divine order.
The meat of sacrificed animals is divided into three parts. One part goes to the poor, the other to close relatives and the third to the family which is giving “qurbani”. So it is also to reiterate that we must remember the poor in our moments of joy,” explains senior cleric Maulana Shoeb Koti. Bakrid carries significance as it is with the sacrifice of animals that Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam, performed in and around the holy city Mecca, gets over.
Bakrid is also about fabulous feasts. “We get orders for korma and biryani at our branches in the city,” says Jafferbhai Delhi Darbar’s Mazhar Jaffer Mansuri. Since homes host guests, housewives are the busiest. “I will cook sheer korma and dahi vada. For lunch there will be biryani and korma and for dinner I will prepare non-vegetarian food for my husband’s non-Muslim friends,” says Bandra resident Mona Alvi, who admits that the exercise is tiring but it also gives her joy to host friends.
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