Eid al Adha 2020: Has the moon been sighted for Eid?

Eid al Adha begins when the moon is sighted in Saudi Arabia, marking the start of days of celebrations for Muslims around the world. Muslims will be looking forward to being able to celebrate outside of strict lockdown as they did earlier in the year with Eid al Fitr.

The name of the holiday Eid al Adha means ‘the celebration of the sacrifice’.

Eid al Adha refers to a tale of sacrifice mentioned in the Qu’ran, in which God asked the Prophet Ibrahim in a dream to sacrifice his son, Ismail, as a test of his faith.

The Qu’ran explains Ibrahim at first ignored the dream but later decided to go through with the plan to sacrifice his son, as a way of proving his faith to God.

Other followers of the faith believed Ibrahim had been possessed by the devil and tried to tell him not to kill his son, and that it was actually a test from Allah.

As he was about to go through with the sacrifice, God replaced his son with a goat, which was sacrificed in his place.

The significance of this incident is now carried as a ritual of the religion and is celebrated every year.

Muslims continue the sacrifice and spend the day with feasting and celebrating with their family and friends.

Those familiar with Christianity will notice parallels between this story and that of Abraham and his son Isaac found in the bible, called the ‘binding of Isaac’.

Has the moon been sighted for Eid al Adha?

Eid al-Adha falls on the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the twelfth month of the Islamic Hijri calendar, which this year is Friday 31 July.

Dhu al-Hijjah is the final month of the Islamic calendar.

The beginning of Eid al Adha depends on when the new moon is sighted in Saudi Arabia.

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This reliance on the moon’s phases also means that it’s not possible to predict its date exactly – in 2020 it has been predicted to start on either Thursday 30 or Friday 31 July, lasting for four days.

According to Saudi Arabia, whose moon sighting lead is followed by many Muslims around the world, the new moon for Dhu al-Hijjah was not seen on Monday 20 July – this meant that the date for Eid al-Adha was confirmed for Friday, July 31.

In the Islamic calendar, celebrations for Eid al Adha begin on the 10th day of the 12th and final month.

The Islamic calendar is different to the Gregorian calendar and is not organised in the same way as many of us know it.

Due to Islam traditionally using the lunar calendar the date does shift and it’s not officially on until there’s a clear enough sky showing the new moon.

This year Eid al Adha will begin just in time for the weekend in the UK on the evening of July 31, and come to an end on the evening of Tuesday, August 4

Eid al Adha is celebrated by coming together with family and friends to eat and celebrate.

Although celebrations this year may be dampened or modified due to COVID-19 restrictions, places of worship are now open for individual prayer.

It is mandatory for Muslims to take part in Eid prayer, which may take place at home or at a mosque.

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