Eid-Al-Adha Celebrations in Sacramento
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Eid-Al-Adha or BakraEid as it is known in South Asia was celebrated with a great deal of fervor in Sacramento, California on Sunday, August 11, 2019 at all the Masjids in the region. This was one of those rare Eid days when all the Mosques in the region (that this writer is aware of) celebrated the occasion on the same day. Eid Al Adha marks the end of the Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca where millions of Muslims gather from around the world for possibly the largest annual spiritual gathering anywhere. And those of the more than 1.7 billion Muslims around the world who cannot be in Mecca, Eid Al Adhaor the“Feast of Sacrifice” is celebrated with community prayer and a great deal more.
The three congregations that I usually attend, SALAM, Downtown Jama Masjid (V Street Mosque) and the Tarbiya Institute all held large prayer events. The original idea was to attend the SALAM Prayer and Celebration held in the open air at the American River College Football field (a BYOR or Bring Your Own Rug event) with Imam Amr Dabour. But all the regional media was called to the Tarbiya Institute post-prayer press conference, so a decision was made to visit the Downtown “V Street” Mosque to catch their 10 AM second shift and then go to Tarbiya.
The Downtown Sacramento V Street Mosque was bustling with activity as I reached there between the two prayer shifts. Imam MumtazQasmi was especially persuasive in his sermon here, focusing on the spiritual aspects of Islam and the challenges that Muslims face in ensuring religious practices, instilling family values and in telling others about the richness of our faith. This Mosque now mainly caters to South Asians and its compound during Eid reminds one of being in Pakistan or India and the sermon here is also delivered in the Urdu language. This is also known as the “Mother Mosque” of all Islamic places of worship that came later in California because it is the oldest continuous place of Muslim worship in the Western United States. Many generations of Muslims attended prayers here as both pizza and Jalebi (sweet) were available and consumed by colorfully dressed men, women, and children. One should be glad that two shifts of prayers were held because the Mosque was pretty full.
I reached Tarbiya Institute’s Grand Eid Prayer and Celebration when Imam Azeez was offering his closing remarks in preparation for a CAIR Press Conference. The Imam was as eloquent as ever as he continues to push the envelope. Azeez is very popular amongst many young Muslims in the Sacramento and Roseville area and his approach towards religious beliefs is well rounded with plenty of inclusion of the mainstream Sacramento communities. It is no wonder that over 3,000 people were here and the atmosphere was festive. One family that had a huge reason to be happy and was present here was the Hayats of Lodi, California. Their son Hamid attended his first Eid with them and a few thousand of us, along with every kind of media present from the bay area to inland California. One need not elaborate further but it was great to see the family united after so many years thanks to CAIR, a strong legal team (the law firm of Riordan and Horgan) and many prayers.
To conclude, Eid Mubarak from Sacramento, California where Muslims have been settled for around five generations. They are all proud Americans who are significant contributors to the area economy and social life and will remain so (Insha Allah).
