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The Palestine League raises funds for the down-trodden Palestinians.
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Grief-stricken
Palestinians and Iraqis are also high on the charity list of the
Austrian Muslim community.
Iraq
Relief Agency in Vienna throws on January 23 a charity party to
provide for the Iraqi children in their distress.
A
UN report said in November that Iraqi children were paying the silent
cost of the US-led occupation with malnutrition rates exceeding by far
those in the world’s poorest and disease-plagued countries.
The
Palestine League will similarly raise funds for the down-trodden
Palestinians.
Palestinians
are welcoming this `Eid with a new spirit, pinning high hopes on the
election of Mahmoud Abbas as new president and the talked-about
Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Happy
`Eid
Vienna
Mayor Michael Häupl Born wished the Muslim community a happy
`Eid, inviting the community leaders to a feast party on Thursday,
January 27.
Austrian
President Heinz Fischer held in Ramadan an Iftar banquet in honor of
the Muslim community.
Islam,
which was officially acknowledged in Austria in 1908, is considered
the second religion in the country after Catholic Christianity.
Muslims,
estimated at nearly half a million, make up some 6 per cent of the
country’s eight-million population.
At
the break of `Eid dawn, jubilant Austrian Muslims flock to mosques to
perform prayers and head afterwards to slaughterhouses to sacrifice.
If
weather permits, families go then to the parks to barbeque the meat or
Arab-style cafes to have breakfast with one another, conjuring up the
spirit of the orient.
Children
also wear their new clothes and take `Ediyya (money) from their
parents and relatives.
Eid
Al-Adha is celebrated every year by
Muslims as a way of remembering Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to
sacrifice his son at God's command.
According
to the Noble Qur'an, Ibrahim was ordered by God to slaughter his son
Isma`eel; as difficult as this was, the prophet abided nonetheless.
Just as he was about to do so, God replaced the boy with a sheep.
