Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, the second of two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide marking the end of the annual pilgrimage or Hajj to the Saudi holy city of Mecca.
Across the world men, women and children prayed and sacrificed animals as part of the celebrations.
Eid al-Adha is the holiest of the two Muslims holidays celebrated each year. Photos from Pakistan show men in the street slaughtering goats, camels, cows and sheep as of the festivities.
As many as 10 million animals worth up to $3 billion are sacrificed during the festival, the Pakistan Tanners’ Association says.
Prayers were held in Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Iraq, while in India police frisked worshippers as they entered mosques amid growing criticism of the treatment of Muslims under Prime Minister Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist regime.
Some Muslims slaughter a sacrificial animal and split the meat into three parts, one for the family, one for friends and relatives, and one for the poor.
The act is done to honour willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God’s command, as told in the Quran. However, before he was able to sacrifice his son, God provided him with a sheep to kill instead.
Pakistani men prepare to sacrifice a cow during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Karachi. Muslims slaughter a sacrificial animal and split the meat into three parts, one for the family, one for friends and relatives, and one for the poor and needy. The act is done to honour willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God’s command, as told in the Quran, but before he was able to sacrifice his son, God provided him with a sheep to kill instead
Pakistani men prepare to sacrifice a cow during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Karachi, Pakistan. Muslims slaughter a sacrificial animal and split the meat into three parts, one for the family, one for friends and relatives, and one for the poor as part
Pakistani butchers prepare to slaughter a cow after offering prayers during the Eid al-Adha festival in Islamabad
This year’s celebration comes amid escalating tensions in Kashmir, Indian’s only Muslim majority region.
The Pakistani government has called for the festival to be observed in a ‘simple manner’ this year, to express solidarity with Kashmiris living on the Indian side of the divided region.
On August 5, India dropped a constitutional provision that had allowed its only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, to make its own laws, and also broke up the state into two federally administered territories.
The changes are the most sweeping in the nearly 30 years that India has been battling a revolt in its portion of Kashmir, parts of which are claimed by Pakistan and China.
Pakistan expelled India’s ambassador and suspended trade in anger at New Delhi’s latest move.
On Monday Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi travelled to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, to offer Eid prayers at a mosque there.
‘(I) have come here to express Pakistan’s solidarity with you,’ Qureshi told worshippers.
In the southern city of Karachi, prayers were dedicated to Kashmiris in India.
Indian policemen frisk Muslims as they enter Khairuddin mosque to offer prayers on the occasion of Eid al-Adha in Amritsar, in the Punjab region of India. It comes as troops in India-administered Kashmir allowed Muslims to walk to local mosques alone or in pairs and pray for the Eid al-Adha festival during an unprecedented security lockdown that still forced most people in the disputed region to stay indoors on the Islamic holy day.
A young Muslim boy attends an Eid-al-Adha prayer service at a mosque in Yangon, Myanmar
Muslims offer Eid al-Adha prayer at Sarkhej Roza in Ahmadabad, India
A child looks on as Muslim people offer Eid al-Adha prayers in Chennai, India as Muslims around the world are celebrate the feast of sacrifice, the second of two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide marking the end of the annual pilgrimage or Hajj to the Saudi holy city of Mecca
Muslims perform the Eid Al Adha prayer at the Ejder Bey Mosque in Baku, Azerbaijan
Pakistani men prepare to sacrifice a cow during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Karachi
Pakistani butchers prepare to slaughter a cow after offering prayers during the Eid al-Adha festival in Islamabad
Butchers slaughter a cow after offering prayers during the Eid al-Adha festival in Islamabad
A boy waits for his turn to get his goat slaughter in celebration of Eid al-Adha, in Karachi. Prayers in the southern city were dedicated to Muslim’s living in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the state lost its autonomy last week. Thousands of Indian troops have imposed tight restrictions on mosques across the disputed region while internet and phone communications have been cut amid fears of anti-government protests
Pakistani men tie up a cow to prepare him for sacrifice during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar, Pakistan
A man controls a cow to slaughter in celebration of Eid al-Adha, in Karachi, Pakistan
All communications and the internet remained cut off for an eighth day.
‘We are together with our Kashmiri brothers,’ said resident Mohammad Adnan. ‘We share their pain and grief. Today, special prayers were offered for them inside the mosque.’
Troops in India-administered Kashmir allowed Muslims to walk to local mosques alone or in pairs and pray for the Eid al-Adha festival during an unprecedented security lockdown that still forced most people in the disputed region to stay indoors on the Islamic holy day.
Some protesters demonstrated against the Indian government’s surprise revocation of Kashmir’s special status last week.
The streets were deserted, with authorities not allowing any large congregations to avoid anti-India protests.
‘Our hearts are on fire,’ said Habibullah Bhat, 75, who said he came to offer prayers despite his failing health.
‘India has thrown us into dark ages, but God is on our side and our resistance will win.’
Hundreds of worshippers hit a street in a neighbourhood in Srinagar after the prayers and chanted: ‘We want freedom’ and ‘Go India, Go back’.
Officials said the protest ended peacefully.
A tweet earlier by Kashmir police said Eid festival prayers ‘concluded peacefully in various parts of the (Kashmir) Valley.
‘No untoward incident reported so far.’
The communications shutdown meant independent verification of events in the region was limited.
India’s foreign ministry shared photos of people visiting mosques but didn’t specify where the photos were taken within Jammu and Kashmir, which New Delhi downgraded from a state to two federal territories a week ago.
The security lockdown in India’s only Muslim-majority region and is expected to last through Thursday, India’s independence day.
The restrictions had been briefly eased for Friday prayers last week and for shopping ahead of Eid.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed support for people in the Indian portion of Kashmir to have the right of self-determination.
Both visited the Pakistani portion of Kashmir for Eid.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir, and the first one ended in 1948 with a promise of a U.N.-sponsored referendum in the territory.
It has never been held.
Muslims women offer Eid al-Adha prayers in Chennai. Muslims around the world directed their prayers at Kashmir, where Muslims are suffering the eighth day of a blackout
An Indian woman waits for money as Muslims pray during Eid al-Adha prayers near a mosque in Kolkata, India
Indian Muslims make their way to Eid al-Adha prayers near a mosque in Kolkata
Indian Muslims share a bike to male their way to Eid al-Adha prayers near a mosque in Kolkata. It comes as India’s foreign ministry shared photos of people visiting mosques but didn’t specify where the photos were taken within Jammu and Kashmir, which New Delhi downgraded from a state to two federal territories a week ago
An Indian Muslim boy yawns as they perform Eid al-Adha prayer near a mosque in Kolkata
Indian Muslims boys play before Eid al-Adha prayers near a mosque in Kolkata. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed support for people in the Indian portion of Kashmir to have the right of self-determination. Both visited the Pakistani portion of Kashmir for Eid
Men in Quetta, Pakistan, tie up a camel to prepare for sacrifice during the Eid celebration, a festival of sacrifice
Pakistani men sacrifice a camel during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar, as tensions grow with India over the state’s treatment of Muslims
Qureshi urged the international community to take notice of ‘Indian atrocities and human rights violations in Kashmir.’
He said that Islamabad was trying its best to highlight the Kashmir issue internationally and expose Indian ‘cruelties’ in the region.
Thousands of additional troops were sent to the disputed Himalayan region before India’s Hindu nationalist-led government said last Monday that it was revoking Kashmir’s special constitutional status and downgrading its statehood.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address to the nation that the move would free the territory of ‘terrorism and separatism’ and accused India’s archrival Pakistan of fomenting unrest.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.
Rebels have been fighting Indian rule in the portion it administers for decades.
A Shiite Muslim man performs the ablution cleansing ritual before the start of Eid al-Adha prayers at a mosque in the central Iraqi shrine city of Najaf
Men in Karachi prepare to sacrifice a cow. Almost 2.5 million pilgrims took part in a symbolic stoning of the devil in the final days of the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia
Shiite Muslims perform prayers for Eid al-Adha at a mosque in Najaf, Iraq. The festival follows the Hajj fast, and comes from when Ibrahim was prepared to submit to God’s command by sacrificing his son
Shiite Muslims perform prayers for Eid al-Adha at a mosque in the central Iraqi shrine city of Najaf. Muslims trace the rites of hajj back to the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible
Restrictions, security lockdowns and information blackouts are nothing new for Kashmiris.
The region witnessed months of clampdown during massive public uprisings against Indian rule in 2008, 2010 and 2016.
However, landline phones have been cut off first time, intensifying hardships.
Frequent separatist calls for general strikes and protests too are routinely met with security lockdowns.
Kashmiris have learnt by experience to figure out ways to survive the hardships of incarceration inside their homes.
Residents are also used to stockpiling essentials, a practice usually undertaken during harsh winter months when roads and communications lines often remain snapped.
More than a million residents live inside the security siege of Srinagar. The hardships, residents say, are slowly unfolding.
Indian Muslims pose after prays in Bhopal, India. Muslims believe Ibrahim’s faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac
Shiite Muslims perform prayers for Eid al-Adha at a mosque in the central Iraqi shrine city of Najaf
Bottles of Ittar or perfume oil are kept for sale on a roadside as Muslims offer prayer outside the Khairuddin mosque on the occasion of Eid al-Adha in Amritsar, India
Residents have begun to face shortages of food and other necessities as shops remain shuttered and public movement restricted.
Helpless parents have struggled to entertain their kids caged inside homes.
Patients have faced shortages of prescription drugs.
Authorities say they have made cash available in ATMs so that residents can take out money to buy essentials for Eid.
Outside of Kashmir, almost 2.5 million pilgrims took part in a symbolic stoning of the devil in the final days of the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
In Mina, Saudia Arabia pilgrims threw pebbles at a pillar in a symbolic casting away of evil.
Shiite Muslims shake hands with each other as they sit in a mosque in Najaf, Iraq
The massive tent city is where the deadliest hajj disasters have occurred, including a 2015 stampede and crush that killed more than 2,400 people.
To mark the completion of the hajj, male pilgrims shaved their hair and women trimmed theirs on Saturday to represent a spiritual renewal and rebirth.
Muslims around the world are commemorating the end of hajj with Eid celebrations, including distributing meat to the poor.
‘I came from Sudan to Mecca where I performed the pilgrimage,’ Mohammed Saleh said as he performed the final rites of hajj in Mina.
‘We hope all pilgrims will be successful in their hajj.’
A man ties-up rope to control a cow before slaughter in celebration of Eid al-Adha, in Karachi
A Pakistani man skins a sacrificed sheep during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar
Pakistani men prepare to sacrifice a cow during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar
Saudi Arabia said 1.85 million pilgrims from more than 160 different countries travelled to the kingdom for the hajj this year.
Another 634,000 joined from within Saudi Arabia, nearly 70 per cent of them non-Saudi residents of the kingdom.
The hajj is one of the largest religious gatherings on earth and a massive logistical challenge for the Saudi government to oversee each year.
The kingdom provides pilgrims with health care and buses for transportation, as well as meals, snacks and water along the routes of hajj.
Saudi media reported King Salman visited Mina on Sunday to supervise the services provided during the hajj.
He included among his guests for the hajj this year 200 survivors and relatives of victims of the mosque attacks in New Zealand, where a gunman opened fire and killed 51 people in March.
Men prepare to sacrifice a camel during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar
Muslims believe the hajj offers the chance of atonement and an opportunity to erase past sins. The first two days of the hajj are spent in Mecca and other areas around it in deep prayer, contemplation and worship
While following a route the Prophet Mohammed once walked, Muslims trace the rites of hajj back to the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible.
It is in Mina where Muslims believe Ibrahim’s faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail.
Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son.
In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.
Muslims believe the hajj offers the chance of atonement and an opportunity to erase past sins.
The first two days of the hajj are spent in Mecca and other areas around it in deep prayer, contemplation and worship.
A sacrificed camel lies on the ground awaiting skinning and processing during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar
Pakistani men sacrifice a camel during an Eid al-Adha celebration in Peshawar
Groups watch as a butcher prepares to sacrifice a camel in Peshwar