20,000 Gather for Eid al-Adha Prayer In Dallas

November 28, 2009

Author: Dianne Solis

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/112809dnmethajj.3ba778d.html

North Texas Muslims entered 20,000-strong Friday morning into the Dallas Convention Center, in native costumes of far-flung lands for communal prayer for one of the holiest days of the Islamic faith.

"This is the time to come together, to help each other and to understand each other," said Imam Yusuf Kavakci, the religious leader of the Dallas Central Mosque.

The morning marked Eid al-Adha, or the feast of the sacrifice. It comes at the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. For those of the faith, it celebrates the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son to God. It commemorates God sparing the son for a sacrificial ram instead.

North Texas is now home for some 150,000 Muslims and more than 50 mosques and Islamic centers.