Iraqis mark Muslim feast
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Exchanging greetings of “Happy Days,” the people of Baghdad shrugged off the specter of war and years of hardship Tuesday to savor the joy and solemnity of Eid al-Adha, the biggest feast of the Muslim year. Dawn prayers and graveside visits to deceased loved ones were followed by food and family gatherings, children’s laughter and amusement parks.
New clothes and the exchange of presents are modern trappings of ancient feasts like Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice. But times have been hard for Iraqis under more than a decade of U.N. economic sanctions and the threat of imminent war.
“I did not buy a single piece of clothes for my children,” said Abu Bakr Mohammed, 36, a bookseller and father of four. “But joy comes with piety,” he consoled himself.
In an olive green robe and a matching waistcoat, Mohammed stood in the early morning outside a mosque in the Al-Azzimiyah district of Baghdad waiting for someone to give him part of a slaughtered animal. Muslims customarily slaughter animals during Eid al-Adha and give a portion to the poor.
“I am a poor man and I am entitled to that,” Mohammed said.
“My children must do with the clothes they have from the last feast,” said Falah Abdel-Mahdi, a 42-year-old father of three who earns a living as a taxi driver. “No animal to slaughter either,” he said, driving his battered, Brazilian-made Volkswagen.
The four-day feast commemorates God’s provision of a ram to substitute for Abraham’s impending sacrifice of his son.
Muslims mark the occasion with the slaughter of a camel, sheep or cow.
Sumptuous meals and large family gatherings are traditional. But economic hardship has made such celebrations somewhat subdued in recent years. With a U.S.-led invasion looming, Iraqis have less than usual to cheer about this year.
Chanting in unison, “God is greater and thanks be to Him,” hundreds of thousands of men, women and children filled Baghdad’s mosques for the special prayers of Eid al-Adha, braving the biting cold of a winter dawn to perform the ritual.
Many left the mosques directly for the city’s cemeteries to visit family graves. In the cemetery behind the Imam Abu Haneefa mosque, one of Baghdad’s oldest Muslim places of worship, beggars and street hawkers lined the small alley leading to the graves.
Once they reached the graves of loved ones, they burned scented wood and recited verses from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, to venerate the dead. Some wept.
But the solemnity soon gave way to festivity.
Thousands of families headed to the city’s amusement parks in the early afternoon. Children were dressed in their best clothes, some wearing masks and party hats. Hawkers sold food and fruit juices, while entire families, from grandmothers to toddlers, lounged on blankets, picnic-style.
With troops, planes and ships massing in the Persian Gulf region and President Bush threatening to disarm Saddam Hussein by force, war was not far from the minds of those having fun in the park.
“American aggression is like a spider on us, they prevent us from getting rest in this festival of Eid,” said 50-year-old industrial engineer Mohammed Ibrahim. “They want to attack us, destroy us. … America prevents us from everything, it’s like cancer.”
Iraqis seem at pains to cling to some level of normalcy. Perhaps it is the resilience they have come to be known for. Or perhaps it is for the sake of the children to whom such occasions are like Christmas in the West. Some cannot afford any semblance of normalcy.
Saddam painted a rosier picture Tuesday when his top aides and ruling Baath Party officials offered him Eid greetings.
“By God,” the Iraqi leader told the assembled leadership, “I have never seen us in a better shape … whether it’s the feelings of the nation, or the stance of Iraqi men and women and their growing readiness and abilities in the face of evil.”
Saddam has lately been using “evil” to refer to the United States, which threatens to attack Iraq if he fails to comply with a U.N. ban on weapons of mass destruction.
“We, as Iraqis, must thank God for everything,” said Saddam, who appeared cheerful as he was embraced by well-wishers who lined up to offer greetings.