History UsefulNotes / IslamicHolidaysAndFestivals

A minor commemoration for Muhammad's cousin, son-in-law and first young convert, revered by both Sunnis and Shi'a: to the former as the fourth and final Rashidun ("Righteously Guided") Caliph, after Abu Bakr (Muhammad's father-in-law, his very first convert and advisor), Umar ibn Al-Khattab (disciple and jurist) and Uthman ibn Affan (another son-in-law); and to the latter as the first of the Twelve Imams, all of whom are direct descendants of Muhammad.

Ramadan tradition varies around the Muslim world. In some places, mosques and rich people put out big tables full of food for the poor; sometimes, the food can be quite rich.[[note]]Fifi Abdou, a famous Egyptian BellyDancer, actress, and general sex symbol, has sparked numerous jokes about the high quality and great quantity of food at her table.[[/note]]

For Hajj pilgrims, they are required to go to Mina, where they perform the symbolic Stoning of the Devil (Ramy al-Jamarat). Pilgrims throw seven stones at the largest of three pillars at Mina, before slaughtering an animal (most Hajj tours pre-include this already, so pilgrims don't need to show up physically for the sacrifice), shaving their hair, then performing a Tawaf. The other two pillars are stoned in 11 and 12 Dhu al-Hijjah. On the last day of the Hajj, pilgrims perform a Farewell Tawaf. As noted above, many Hajj package tours include an additional visit to Medina, so foreign pilgrims don't necessarily leave Saudi Arabia immediately after this.

Anyone who can afford it are required to sacrifice an animal (traditionally a lamb or a sheep, but in some places goats or camels would suffice, while some rich people offer up cows). Since personal involvement is optional, most people pay a butcher to do the ritual for them, after which they eat at least part of that sacrifice, which becomes the centerpiece of the inevitable feast. Some wealthier families can also distribute some of their sacrifice to the poor.

Though the hajj technically only lasts four days (8 to 13 Dhu al Hijjah), the procession is usually taken to mean from the start of the month, so pilgrims arrive a week early to begin the Hajj preparations. Many Hajj package tours also add more days after the season ends, mostly consisting of tours to Medina (Islam's second holiest city, where the Muslim community was first organized and where the Prophet Muhammad was buried), thus extending the stay. Managing millions of people visiting during a very specific time of the year is a herculean task, hence why Hajj is so outrageously expensive ($5,000 is the average minimum price for a single person). Saudi Arabia also imposes quota on the number of pilgrims; it's not uncommon for people to queue for decades before their request is accepted.

Note that it is perfectly okay for you to visit Mecca for pilgrimage any day of the year, but it would only count as an Umrah (meaning visitation) and does not count as a Hajj. Since Umrah has no schedule, it is ''way'' cheaper than the Hajj, so many people take it as a preparation for the real thing. To do Umrah, one simply have to do Tawaf (circumambulating the Kaaba, that cube-shaped thing in the middle of the Masjid al-Haram, seven times counterclockwise), perform prayers at the Place of Ibrahim (Abraham), and do the Sa'ay ritual, where pilgrims run between the hills of Safa and Marwa seven times, reenacting Hajar (Hagar)'s search for water for her son, Isma'il (Ishmael). The extra acts performed during the Hajj season are not required.

Note that it is perfectly okay for you to visit Mecca for pilgrimage any day of the year, but it would only count as an Umrah (meaning visitation) and does not count as a Hajj. Since Umrah has no schedule, it is ''way'' cheaper than the Hajj, so many people take it as a preparation for the real thing. To do Umrah, one simply had to do Tawaf (circumambulating the Kaaba, that cube-shaped thing in the middle of the Masjid al-Haram), perform prayers at the Place of Ibrahim, and do the Sa'ay ritual, where pilgrims run between the hills of Safa and Marwa, reenacting Hajar (Hagar)'s search for water for her son, Isma'il (Ishmael). The extra acts performed during the Hajj season are not required.

The biggest festival of the Muslim year, as indicated by its length (four whole days, although most folks only get the first day off), commemorating Ibrahim (Abraham) nearly sacrificing of his son Isma'il on God's orders, only to be immediately substituted with a lamb. Sounds familiar? Literature/TheBible has the same story, except that it's Isaac (Ishaq in Arabic) who was nearly sacrificed. Significantly, Ishmael is legendarily one of the ancestors of the Arabs, and of Muhammad's Quraysh tribe in particular, while Isaac was of course the patriarch of the Hebrews. So there's that. The feast marks the end of the Hajj and is performed like a restrained Eid ul-Fitr. People offer Salat al-Eid and eat lots of good food.

Another strictly Shi'a holiday, commemorating the fortieth day after Ashura (the name literally means "forty" in Arabic, forty days being the traditional period of mourning in Middle Eastern cultures, which was also passed down onto Judaism and Christianity). A common date for Shias to go on pilgrimage to Karbala, where Husayn fell and was buried.

The rest of the day is typically devoted to all kinds of fun: inevitably, there's a truly massive family feast in which everyone pulls out all the stops, typically sometime in the afternoon. Snacking, particularly on sweet foods, is common all through the day. Children are traditionally given gifts and/or money. And no matter where you go in the Muslim world, every culture has its own unique sort of public festivity. In Muslim Southeast Asia, for example, Eid al-Fitr is ''the'' holiday of the year, with the government designating an entire week before and after the holiday off to handle the rush hour of people migrating between the big cities and their home sweet home. It's SeriousBusiness of the same kind that Christmas receives in Christian countries.

The starting date for the most important duty of able-bodied (and able-walleted--the trip can be quite expensive) Muslims: to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetimes. Note that it is perfectly okay for you to visit Mecca for pilgrimage any day of the year, but it would only count as an Umrah (meaning visitation) and does not count as a Hajj. Since it is cheaper, many people take it as a preparation for the real thing.

The eve of Eid al-Adha and second day of the Hajj, when pilgrims start climbing Mount Arafat, about 20 kilometers (18 miles) east of Mecca, where Muhammad preached his last major sermon.

The biggest festival of the Muslim year, as indicated by its length (four whole days, although most folks only get the first day off), commemorating Ibrahim (Abraham) nearly sacrificing of his son Isma'il (Ishmael) on God's orders, only to be immediately substituted with a lamb. Sounds familiar? ''Literature/TheBible'' has the same story, except that it's Isaac (Ishaq in Arabic) who was nearly sacrificed. Significantly, Ishmael is legendarily one of the ancestors of the Arabs, and of Muhammad's Quraysh tribe in particular, while Isaac was of course the patriarch of the Hebrews. So there's that. The feast marks the end of the Hajj and is performed like a restrained Eid ul-Fitr. People offer Salat al-Eid and eat lots of good food.

A holiday whose importance varies from place to place. In some countries, it's a big deal, a full day-off with parades and special prayers and so on; in other, like UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia, it is banned. There is a long and complicated theological debate about this, with ulema (religious scholars) having some pretty heated arguments about whether it is allowed or not; those in support mostly do so in veneration of the Prophet, while those against regard the holiday as an unnecessary innovation (bid'ah). In general, however, the holiday is more uniformly regarded as sacred for the Shi'a, due to their emphasis on veneration of the Prophet's family. There is also a difference over the date: Sunnis and some Shi'a sects recognize the twelfth of Rabi' al-Awwal, while most Shi'a recognize the seventeenth.

UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} is something of a peculiar religion when it comes to festivals in two ways. One, it doesn't have a whole lot of them -- at least, not a lot that anyone pays attention to. Two, they are linked to the [[AlternativeCalendar Islamic calendar]], which is purely lunar: it is only 354 days long, or about 11 days shorter than the solar year, with each of its twelve months almost exactly beginning at the day of the New Moon. These two peculiarities are related: because of the length of the calendar, the months move through the seasons, and thus the Islamic year lags behind its Gregorian/solar counterpart. Since so many festivals elsewhere around the world, civil, cultural or religious, are linked to the solar seasons, it would be very difficult to link them to the Islamic calendar. As a result, while seasonal festivals do exist in many Islamic countries, they tend to be cultural in nature and are linked to local solar/lunisolar calendars, many of which date from pre-Islamic times. For instance, the UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}}ian spring festival, Sham el-Nessim, is linked to the Egyptian calendar, which is more or less the same as the old Julian calendar (it falls on [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Orthodox]] Easter Monday for historical reasons). By the same token, the UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}ian spring festival, Nowruz, falls on the first day of the Persian solar calendar, which is based on both Islamic, Persian and Hindu calendars. Some of these are region-based, such as Basant, which is a famous spring festival (with lots of kites) mostly celebrated in Lahore, Pakistan.

One, its Arabic name sounds like [[UsefulNotes/JewishHolidays Rosh Hashanah]], which is justified as both Arabic and Hebrew are related languages and both terms mean "Head of the Year". The word is alsy used in Arab countries to refer to the Gregorian New Year (1 January).