Eidul Azha likely to be on August 22 in UAE

Locals can expect Arafat to fall on August 21, says Sharjah Planetarium deputy director Ebrahim Al Jarwan

There is high chance that Eidul Azha may fall on Thursday, August 23 in Pakistan as a reliable astronomer in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) predicts it a day earlier in the Gulf country.

According to astronomical calculations, locals can expect the Arafat Day to fall on August 21, deputy director of Sharjah Planetarium Ebrahim Al Jarwan said on Tuesday.

Arafat Day takes places on the ninth day of the Islamic Zilhaj month and Eidul Azha on the 10th. This means that the first day of Eidul Azha will fall on August 22, Gulf News reported.

Eidul Azha commemorates the Quranic tale of the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah, before the Almighty replaced the son with a ram to be sacrificed instead.



A similar story involving Ibrahim is recounted in the holy books of Judaism and Christianity. It is tradition for those who can afford to sacrifice domestic animals as a symbol of Ibrahim’s willingness to
sacrifice his only son.

The result is a booming pre-holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep. In Pakistan alone, nearly 10 million animals, worth more than $3 billion, are slaughtered during the two days of Eidul Azha, according to the Pakistan Tanners’ Association.

Eidul Azha marks the end of an annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Makkah, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, and should be undertaken by every Muslim who can afford to do so.

This article originally appeared on Gulf News.