Muslims have been urged to practice love and self-sacrifice as the Eid Al-Adha celebration climaxed with special Congregational prayers to Allah.
The Imam of the Calabar Central Mosque, Abdulafeez Akere advised while preaching at the regular prayer ground on Mary Slessor Avenue in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, southern Nigeria.
Akere, who also led the Eid prayers, enjoined the Ummah to emulate the Holy Prophet by sacrificing ego, personality and soul for almighty Allah.
According to him, “Even though today is characterised by the sacrifice of the ram, the significance to us as Muslims means that we must sacrifice ourselves, your soul, your personality and your ego for the almighty Allah.
“As a people, I mean, Nigerians in general, we must inculcate the self-sacrificing spirit for the sake of our fellow human beings. We must have love for humanity, which is what Islam is all about and what Islam preaches.
“Anything different from this is not the message of Islam. So as a person, you must humble yourself. Humility and sacrifice are essential for the overall progress of the community, starting from the family to your immediate community and the society at large, which is Nigeria,” he said.
While speaking with Voice of Nigeria after the one-hour Eid prayer, the cleric said that the Ummah was expecting to celebrate by sharing their food with their families, less privileged and their neighbours, who are non-Muslims.
He explained, “Now that prayers have ended, the people would be departing the prayer ground to their homes, where those who could afford a ram would prepare food and share with others; the privileged and less privileged. Some may choose to visit friends and take their families to leisure parks in Calabar. But, the important thing is for them to celebrate with all people.”
Meanwhile, some respondents said that the two-day celebration would be held in the company of family, friends and the less privileged within their locality.
A legal practitioner in Calabar, Mr Kabiru Yunus said, “My family and I will observe the rest of the day by celebrating with family and friends. You know we call this the big Sallah and the significance of this centres on the ram or what one can afford. The norm is a cow, camel or ram depending on a person’s capacity.
“We will be sharing with the less privileged and non-Muslims as the ram would be divided into three parts, which is one for the family and friends, one for the less privileged and the other parts for our neighbours. The lesson is that your neighbours must not feel bad because they do not have one. We are expected to show love to our neighbours and that is what we would be doing this period,” he said.
Another respondent, Mr Kehinde Radius stated, “We are going back home to slaughter the ram so that we can host our family and invite our friends to share with us. We need to share and celebrate with our neighbours because we all are grateful to the almighty God for protecting us from last year to date.
“There are people in the hospital, those who did not make it today and we are alive. So, we have to thank Allah for life. Maybe later in the evening or tomorrow, we will go visiting,” he said.
This year’s celebration in Calabar had the Muslim Ummah congregate at about seven to eight different prayer grounds to observe Eid prayers.
