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Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ‘Īd al-’Aḍḥá, IPA: [ʕiːd al ʔadˁˈħaː], "feast of sacrifice") or "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslimsworldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael(Isma'il) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a sheep— to sacrifice instead.

Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes fromSura 2 (Al-Baqara) Ayah 196 in the Qur'an.^[2] Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a Sunnahprayer of two Raka'ah (units) followed by a sermon (khuṭbah).

The word "Eid" appears in Sura al-Mai'da ("The Table Spread," Chapter 5) of the Qur'an, meaning 'solemn festival'.^[3]

Eid al-Adha is celebrated annually on the 10th day of the 12th and the last Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar.^[4] Eid al-Adha celebrations start after the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. The date is approximately 70 days (2 Months & 10 days) after the end of the month of Ramadan, i.e. Eid-ul-Fitr. Ritual observance of the holiday lasts until sunset of the 13th day of Dhu al-Hijjah.

Other names

The Arabic term "Festival of Sacrifice", ‘Eid ul-’Aḍḥā, is similar to the Semitic roots that evolved into Indic languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Bengali and Austronesian languagessuch as Malay and Indonesian (the last often spelling it as Idul Adha or Iduladha).

Another Semitic word for "sacrifice" is the Arabic Qurbān(Arabic: قربان‎), which is used in Dari Persian and Standard Persian as Eyde Ghorbân عید قربان, and in Tajik Persian as Иди Қурбон (Idi Qurbon), into Kazakh as Құрбан айт (Qurban ayt), into Uyghur as Qurban Heyit, and also into various Indic languages. Other languages combined the Arabic word qurbānwith local terms for "festival", as in Kurdish (Cejna Qurbanê^[6]),Pashto (Kurbaneyy Akhtar), Chinese (古尔邦节 Gúěrbāng Jié), Malay and Indonesian (Hari Raya Korban, Qurbani), andTurkish (Kurban Bayramı).Azeri (Qurban Bayramı), Tatar(Qorban Bäyräme), Bosnian (Kurban bajram),Albanian(Bajramin e Kurbanit) Croatian (Kurban-bajram),Serbian (Курбан бајрам), Russian (Курбан-байрам), (Eid Kurbani Wari) in Sindhi.

Eid al-Kabir, "the Greater Eid" (the "Lesser Eid" being Eid ul-Fitr^[7]), is used in Yemen, Syria, and North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt). The term was borrowed directly into French as Aïd el-Kebir. Translations of "Big Eid" or "Greater Eid" are used in Pashto لوی اختر Loy Akhtar, KashmiriBaed Eid, Hindi and Urdu Baṛā Īd, Malayalam Bali Perunnal, and Tamil Peru Nāl.

Another name refers to the fact that the holiday occurs after the culmination of the Hajj (حج), or pilgrimage to Mecca (Makka). Such names are used in Malay and Indonesian (Hari Raya Haji "Hajj celebration day",Lebaran Haji), and in Tamil Hajji Peru Nāl.

In Urdu-speaking areas, the festival is also called بقرعید Baqra Īd or Baqrī Īd, stemming either from the Arabic baqarah "heifer" or the Urdu word baqrī for "goat", as cows and goats are among the traditionally sacrificed animals. That term was also borrowed into other languages, such as Tamil Bakr Eid Peru Nāl.

Other local names include 宰牲节 Zǎishēng Jié ("Slaughter-livestock Festival") in Chinese, Tfaska Tamoqqart in the Berber language of Djerba, Tabaski or Tobaski in West African languages,^[8][9] Babbar Sallah in Nigerian languages, and ciida gawraca in Somali.

Eid-al-Adha has had other names outside the Muslim world. The name is often simply translated into the local language, such as English Festival of Sacrifice, German Opferfest, Dutch Offerfeest, RomanianSărbătoarea Sacrificiului and Hungarian Áldozati ünnep. In Spanish, it is known as the Fiesta del Cordero, the Festival of the Lamb.

In Bangladesh and West Bengal it is known as Korbanir Eid..............