Eid al-Adha Celebrated with Spiritual Fervor in Roseville, California
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Despite some sad events during the past two decades the Islamic community continues to take root and flourish in America. And the numbers are growing not just because of the refugees that we read about in the media, with the Afghans being the latest addition.
The Muslim community first arrived here amongst the slaves from Africa, a story detailed in Alex Haley’s Roots. And right here in California, including the San Joaquin, Sacramento, Sutter, and Yuba counties, Muslims from South Asia first arrived in the very early 1900’s from the Punjab region. It is a fact that most of these Punjabis (over 85%) were of the Sikh faith, while Muslims were second at around 10 to 12% and the rest were practicing Hindus. Since these arrivals were all men who worked the fields, they married women from the local Hispanic community, which also allowed them to own land (Asian Exclusion was in force then). There was once a thriving Punjabi-Mexican community in northern California and many (not all) of their descendants became Catholic Christians taking the religion of their mothers. Unsurprisingly, thanks to these pioneers, some of the Muslims in this part of California are 5 th generation now.
Jumping to the year 2022, the face of the faith has changed considerably in this region. Besides refugees, thanks to immigration many highly educated professionals are now a part of this community (doctors, dentists, engineers, and IT professionals). They are not a monolithic lot either because one finds all races, ethnicities, and national origins amongst them. South Asian Muslims (Indian or Pakistani) no longer dominate the numbers. And many intermarriages with the non-Muslim community have also been taking place so attending a Muslim gathering here can be quite an education in diversity.
This year, Eid al-Adha (Feast or Festival of Sacrifice) fell on July 9 th. Since the Islamic calendar follows the moon, its traditions like Ramadan and festivals can fall on different days each year vis a vis our regular Gregorian solar calendar. Muslims here are usually much happier when a major festival such as Eid falls on a weekend! And that is exactly what happened this year as this Eid al-Adha fell on a Saturday in this part of the world to the delight of our community.
Each year I get to choose between at least six major Mosques or congregations in our region to attend Eid events. This time the choice was Tarbiya House located in Roseville at 10031 Foothills Blvd. Tarbiya is a relative newcomer here as far as having a permanent location is concerned. This congregation is led by Imam Azeez a fine orator and astute leader. With a thousand people or more in attendance, the soccer field at the Tarbiya complex was quite active when I arrived. The entire area had a festive look with many dressed in traditional clothes, along with some in blue jeans since this event was outdoors. The women and children in this community especially get dressed up for Eid occasions and the trend showed here.
Due to COVID-19 large events like this one have had to be held outdoors. The directive here was to bring your own prayer mat which added even more color to the venue as people from different parts of the world brought their own traditional rugs. And a colorful array of headgear could not go unnoticed either (including baseball caps, skull caps, Arab keffiyehs or shemaghs, and Afghan pakols and turbans etc.), while some chose not to cover their heads here too.
Imam Azeez conducted the prayers in a befitting manner. In his sermon after the prayer, he (as usual) put in a lot of thinking and wisdom into the delivery for community benefit. Having known him and his work for over a decade one can vouch for his successful synthesizing of traditional Islamic spirituality and scripture with life in the new age that we live in. Many young area Muslims (most of them American-born) have chosen Tarbiya House to be a part of the congregation because of him. His ability to relate to them and to understand their point of view has been the main motivating reason.
Imam Azeez revisited the reason why Eid al-Adha is celebrated. It is the celebration of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and his willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael, born to Hajar or Hagar) because he was commanded by Allah (swt) to do it. It was a test of his devotion and that of Ismail. Imam Azeez pointed out that it was Allah’s will, but Abraham asked Ismail and did not order him to become the sacrifice. Azeez stressed that communication between parents and children is very important for a healthy spiritual upbringing and that it should not be forced. Hazrat Ibrahim passed the test of Allah and Ismail was not sacrificed but replaced by a lamb with the help of Angel Jibreel (Gabriel). Muslims celebrate this moment at the end of Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca) by sacrificing livestock in the millions worldwide. The meat of the sheep, goat, cow, or camel sacrificed is split three ways between self, family/friends, and the poor. There is plenty of food in the Muslim world the day of and the days following this celebration.
As food gets a mention, there was plenty of it here at the festival at Tarbiya which followed soon after the prayers and sermon. There was Halal (Muslim Kosher) All-American BBQ, Gyros/Shawarma, pizza, ice cream, coffee, and even popcorn and cotton candy for the kids. Bounce houses were set up and the young ones seemed to be having a good time while the adults engaged in greeting each other and socializing. “Eid Mubarak” to all from Roseville, California.
