Eid is a three-day celebration and implementation of what was left behind in Prophet Ibrahim (A.S.)'s footsteps. Many years ago our Prophet Ibrahim (A.S.) made a choice. He loved his son, but he loved God more. The commandment came to sacrifice his son, but it wasn't his son that was slaughtered, it was his attachment to anything that could compete with his love for God.
In my household, Eid begins at 5:30 in the morning. Getting up to perform ghusl (The sunnah way of cleansing oneself from all impurities), wearing my 'Eid outfit' which are always one of the fancier (if not newest) suits I own, spraying minimal perfume, and covering it all under a nice abaya in formality of the Eid prayer at Masjid-al-Mo'mineen. Although we have shifted to E-11 and we can attend the prayer in Masjid-Bilal which is just a 3 minute walk away, but because the biggest part of Eid is reconnecting with relatives and family friends, we chose to take the longer route to the masjid in F-11.
My attendance in Masjid-al-Momineen dates back to when I was just 7 years old at Taraweeh every Ramadan and with the grace of Allah, many women showed up every year and it is always such a treat to meet them again and especially at such a beautiful, blessed day.
After Eid prayer, Abbu would take us home from a different route, as the sunnat suggests. The men of the house would go to receive the sacrifice meat (whether it be cow or goat) and Ammi would whip it up into a nice kaleji dish with which we would open our mini fast.
The rest of the days would be spent hosting or going out to meet family and greet them with well wishes.
Each year, without fail, I go to the bakra mandi to see my sacrifice goat and sitting on the charpai, I have pondered over the feelings that those people go through when seeing their goat be slaughtered after having taken care of them for a week in the hospitality of their own abode and then distributing them and consuming from it themselves. For me, I have never grown close to my sacrifice animal before it is given away but it really hit me this Eid.
It cannot be unseen that the real beauty and wisdom of such a sacrifice is this: Once you let go of your attachment (In the archaic sense, when the Prophet let go of his son), what you love is given back to you--now in a purer, better form (The sheep that appeared in Hazrat Ismail's place)
So let us ask ourselves, which attachments do we need to slaughter? What could possibly be a hindrance in our practice of worship towards Allah, even in the slightest and how can we get rid of it as soon as possible.
