The second most important festival in the Muslim calendar, Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice, commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim (known to Christians and Jews as Abraham), who resisted the devil’s advice and was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God
Open this photo in gallery: A Nigerian girl the Lagos covers her face as she waits for the start of Eid al-Adha celebrations. The second most important festival in the Muslim calendar, Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice, commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim (known to Christians and Jews as Abraham), who resisted the devil’s advice and was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God. The same episode is also found in the Jewish Torah and the Old Testament, where Abraham is instead challenged to sacrifice another son, Isaac. Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters
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Open this photo in gallery: Boys, in Dakar, Senegal, lead rams out of the Atlantic Ocean after washing them at first light in preparation for sacrifice, on Eid al-Adha, known locally as Tabaski. Muslims celebrate Eid with prayers at the mosque and the slaughter of sheep, goats, cows and camels, the meat being shared between family, friends and the poor. Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press
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Open this photo in gallery: At the Grande Mosquée de Paris, Abderrahmane Dahmane (second from the left), an ex-adviser to former president Nicolas Sarkozy, takes part in a distribution of chocolate croissants to protest controversial remarks by a French politician. Jean-François Copé, who is bidding for the leadership of Mr. Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP party, triggered an uproar when he mentioned the chocolate pastry in a speech anecdote seen as an attack against French Muslims. “I can understand the exasperation of some of our compatriots,” Mr. Copé had said, “parents coming home from work in the evening and learning that their son, as he left school, got his chocolate croissant snatched by some thugs telling him that it’s forbidden to eat during Ramadan.” Francois Mori/The Associated Press
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Open this photo in gallery: An Indonesian girl attends a mass prayer during Eid al-Adha festival in the Javanese village of Kalitengah, on the slopes of volcano Gunung Merapi. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, with more than 200 million believers. Wealthier Muslims are expected to sacrifice animals and share the meat with less fortunate ones. In a sign of the flexible nature of Islam in Indonesia and the country’s growth, Muslim charities have set up websites to enable urban Indonesians to make online donations of cattle to poorer rural residents. Dwi Oblo/Reuters
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Open this photo in gallery: In northern Afghanistan, worshippers had just finished their prayers at a mosque in Maimana, capital of Faryab province, when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing more than 40 people. At least 50 others were wounded by the bomb, which reportedly was stuffed with ball bearings. Witnesses said the bomber wore a police uniform but looked like a teenager. “We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other,” deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez told AFP. “Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion.” A Taliban spokesman told Reuters they were investigating to find out who was responsible. Stringer/Reuters
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