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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and for our last 15 minutes today, I wonder if we can get some Muslim listeners to call in observing Eid al-Adha today to give some voice to your observance and also to explain it to other listeners. Anybody willing to do that? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. You know how we often take calls near the end of the show from different groups of listeners involved in different things, and today, hoping to hear from a few Muslim listeners to explain the current Eid al-Adha to other listeners, and also just to give you some public voice to talk about your own observance and why this matters to you. 212-433-WNYC. Who wants in? 212-433-9692.

One of the reasons I ask, this is a day off in the New York City public schools because of the holiday and many non-Muslim families probably don't know much about why, right? Maybe they know the Eid that comes at the end of Ramadan by now, but maybe not much about this one. Muslim listeners, give voice to your observance of this Eid and explain it to others along the way. Who's in? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

A little bit of background as some calls we hope will come in. Yesterday, Muslims around the world began celebrating the holiday known as Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. The holiday can last three to four days depending on the country where it's celebrated, and it commemorates the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. Yes, that's the same Abraham sacrifice that Jews and Christians observe.

Before he could do it, God swapped out Ismail with a ram in his place. As you know, if you know the Bible and in the Christian and Jewish telling, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac, and because of this, worshipers who have the means will typically slaughter an animal and offer part of the meat to the needy. The festival follows the annual Hajj pilgrimage, where over a million Muslims head to Mecca to perform the ritual.

Anyone just come back from Hajj yourself, we'd love to hear your story of that. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. This is a very hot time of year to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and some people suffer mightily as a result of that, but anybody have any Hajj story from any year that you've gone to Hajj? What a dramatic community experience that must be for people participating in that. Who wants to tell a Hajj story in conjunction with the Eid? 212-433-WNYC, and it doesn't have to be from this year. 212-433-9692. If you're back from performing Hajj or if you're celebrating Eid al-Adha, call in on either track.

Also, when I talk about two tracks, one on celebration, sharing, and what this holiday means to you in that respect, the other, on the local and global political context, as many Muslims here in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area, obviously, as well as abroad in Gaza and elsewhere, are facing a different reality.

What does this festival mean to you, or how are you maintaining your faith and contributing to the well-being of others during this time? What does the celebration teach Muslims, young and old, about charity, kindness, building community, or anything else you want to share about Hajj or Eid al-Adha? 212-433-WNYC. Tell some non-Muslim parents why their kids have the day off from school today in New York City and other places. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and now to calls from a few Muslim listeners in our last few minutes today to explain Eid al-Adha, the holiday that's being celebrated today, or just give a little voice to your own observance or celebration of the holiday or talk about your pilgrimage just now or in any year to the Hajj because this comes-- or not to the Hajj, but the pilgrimage is the Hajj to Mecca because this Eid comes at the end of Hajj. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Costa in Bound Brook, you're on WNYC. Thanks a lot for calling in.

Costa: Sure, Brian. I've done the Hajj in 2007, some time ago. It was definitely a life-altering experience. As you know, many of the Muslims around the world are probably not as affluent, and this would probably be their one trip outside of their community in their lifetime. The pilgrimage is one of the pillars of Islam that encourages those with means to be able to journey to Mecca and meet with their fellow Muslims from around the world.

Brian Lehrer: What do you do once you get there?

Costa: Basically, you follow the same ritual that Abraham's wife, Hagar, did. You go between the two mountains as she was frantically looking for water as Abraham had left her and the newborn in the barren valley of Mecca, this is before Mecca was developed. Then we basically follow the Abrahamic rituals for all the parts of the Hajj. Incidentally, it is Mohammed that actually, peace be upon him, that actually performed the Hajj, but the ritual that he performed was actually commemorating Abraham who is father of all three great religions, as you know.

Brian Lehrer: Right, which is why the term Abrahamic religions to refer to all three.

Costa: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: What about-- go ahead.

Costa: Many people actually don't understand that Islam is actually a Western religion as well. It's not Eastern religion.

Brian Lehrer: What does someone like you do today? You're not going on Hajj this year, you're home, it's the Eid. Are you eating a certain kind of meat dish to observe? I mentioned that particular ritual that some people follow. Anything else?

Costa: Yes, those people who are actually doing the ritual slaughter around the world, they usually keep one-third of it for themselves and their family, one-third of it for the neighbors and relatives, and one-third of it is given away to the poor. That's the distribution of the meat. As you know, many of the places around the world, this is probably the only time people get to eat meat because of being so expensive.

There is certain rituals that comes with the animal. Sometimes people feel that it's cruelty. I'm originally from Bangladesh and I've taken my kids first time two years ago to Bangladesh. We went around this time, and I was just afraid, growing up in New York and not really having seen the slaughter, they were probably horrified. To my surprise, when they saw the amount of care and gentleness that goes in up until the slaughter, they also understood how people don't really have meat until these days. It is an act of devotion.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, interesting context for all of that. Costa, thank you so much for your call. Nice talking to you.

Costa: Thanks so much.

Brian Lehrer: Eid Mubarak to you.

Costa: Eid Mubarak to you.

Brian Lehrer: Yahia in Montvale, you're on WNYC. Hello, Yahia.

Yahia: Good morning. Thanks for having me, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Certainly.

Yahia: My brief story is I did do the Hajj pilgrimage back in '04, '03. It's a tough journey. It's expensive, it's not obligatory. Basically, if you can afford it and if you have the health to do it, you should do it.

The Eid al-Adha is the second holiday that we celebrate in a year. It's, again, as you mentioned earlier, it's Abraham willing to sacrifice his older son, Ismail. He had three dreams, back to back to back, from God to him to slaughter his son. When he showed his devotion and faith, God said, “Don't slaughter your son.” He had a ram brought down to earth that was sacrificed.

I only went through that process once as a child in Jersey. It wasn't pleasant, something to experience in person. Nowadays, we just donate money overseas where people need it. Nobody is hungry in this country, but overseas, people need it more, so we just donate money and have that done overseas.

Brian Lehrer: There are people hungry in this country, but yes, in a lot of other places, people need it more. I hear you. Do you participate in any particular community celebration today? Are there gatherings or traditions?

Yahia: Yes. Well, yesterday, we celebrated the Eid. It's a three or four-day process, but the first day is the most prominent. We go to mosque in the morning, which is not obligatory. It's just a good feeling where you take your kids. The kids experience other people. There's presents, there's food, and games, and so on. Then you visit your family members, sister, mother, the closest family members to you. You invite people. You go to people's house. You eat, you celebrate, and you reflect.

With the tough times that are going on in the Middle East and so on, you reflect and you wish others well, and so on. It's a little commercialized, but it's a feel-good day. We only have two holidays a year, so we give money to kids, make the kids enjoy it the most. Really, it's all about the kids more than anything.

Brian Lehrer: They’re fun, you don't have to fast all day for a month.

Yahia: No. The 30 days were over, and the two holidays are separated by approximately 70 days. Our holidays are not concrete. It goes by lunar, by the moon.

Brian Lehrer: That’s right. Yes, it moves around the year. We have to leave it there because we're out of time, Yahia. Eid Mubarak to you. Thank you very much for calling in. We really appreciate it. Eid Mubarak to anybody celebrating Eid al-Adha today, and now the rest of you know a little bit more about why your kid has off from school or just about a holiday going on in our communities that you may not have known much about.

That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen edits our national politics podcast. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio. Milton Ruiz and Shayna Sengstock today at the audio controls. Stay tuned for All of It.

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