Eid, a Muslim celebration, began with a welcome speech from President of Muslim Society Association (MSA) Zaynab Jan.

“This year, the Muslim Student Association is seeking to achieve two goals,” Jan said. “First, we want to create a tightly-knit Muslim community on our campus. Although we have a small community, we hope to make it a closer one, and that goes for the entire year, with today as just a starting point. I want to make sure we can all be there for one another, so we can share thoughts, ideas and life stories.”

Later, Shaikh Mohamed-Umar Esmail, the maulvi of the Mosque, gave the audience a brief overview of why Muslims celebrate the Eid.

“Diwali brings sweet; Eid brings pudding; and Christmas brings cake,” Esmail said. “All festivals feed the poor. Every religion teaches to feed the hunger of poor. And every Holy festival carries a story of where it started and its essence.”

Eid is the festival of joy and happiness. Eid is the second of two Muslim holidays celebrated worldwide each year. This occasion honors the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (A.S.) sacrificing his son as an act of submission to God. But before the sacrifice was finalized, God intervened by sending an Angel Jibra’il to inform the Prophet that his sacrifice had already been accepted. Instead of his son, the Prophet had to sacrifice an animal (goat, sheep, cow or camel). The meat of the animal is divided into three equal parts. The first part is for the family, second one goes to relatives and neighbor and third part is distributed amongst the poor and needy.

Graduate student Shaziya Damani spent his first ever Eid away from my home at the St. Edwards celebration and said the experience was truly incredible.

“Eid is an auspicious occasion, where we recall its significance and pay tribute to it,” graduate student Damani said. “No doubt, the Eid event held at SEU was a remarkable event. Muslims and students from different backgrounds were welcomed to join in and value the significance of Eid.”

Another student, Zarmeen Humayun had a similar positive experience.

“The Eid celebration was very well organized and everyone seemed to enjoy it, including me,” Humayun said. “It was great to see everyone from different countries, and even some non-Muslims came together to celebrate such an amazing Islamic holiday.”

The celebration of Eid is an open event for everyone. Every table was filled with a diversified range of people. Some of them were Christians, some were Hindus and some were Muslims. Further, Muslims from all over the world joined and shared their cultures.