Prayers and sacrifice mark Eid-al-Adha

Muslims around the world are celebrating Islam’s biggest holiday with prayers, gifts, traditional visits with family and friends, and feasts. Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, commemorates what Muslims believe was Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son in accordance with God’s will, though in the end God provides him with a sheep to sacrifice instead.

In remembrance, Muslim faithful slaughter sheep, cattle, camels and other livestock in an act of sacrifice to show gratitude for their blessings, divide the meat into three equal portions and give some of it to the poor.

Little boys hug each other to greet them for Eid al-Adha after performing the namaz in Mumbai. Photograph: Arun Patil

A little boy offers Namaz in Hyderabad on the day of Eid al-Adha. Photograph: SnapsIndia

Muslims offer Eid al-Adha prayers at the Jama Masjid in the old quarters of Delhi. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha and urged people to imbibe the spirit of love and service. Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters

Women in Coimbatore gather around a mosque to offer their prayers on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. Photograph: PTI photo

Muslims pray in a mosque during the Eid al-Adha festival in Yangon. Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha to mark the end of the haj pilgrimage. Photograph: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

Amid the war and destruction, a Palestinian from Gaza prays in front of the Dome of the Rock during their visit at the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as TempleMount in Jerusalem’s OldCity. In a rare step Israel said on October 1 it would let 500 Palestinians living in Gaza pray at the Jerusalem holy site during the Eid al-Adha feast at the weekend, and allow Palestinians from the West Bank to enter Israel more freely for the holiday. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Despite floods, hundreds of Muslims converged at a mosque in Guwahati to offer their prayers. 

Afghans greet one another after performing prayers during the annual festival of Eid al-Adha at Kacha Garhi Afghan refugee camp, on the outskirts of Peshawar. Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Filipino Muslim children take shelter from the rain after their morning prayers, during Eid-al-Adha celebrations, at the Blue Mosque in Taguig city, south of Manila. Photograph: Romeo Ranoco/Reuters

A Filipino Muslim smears the face of a teenager with the blood from a butchered goat, which according to the man is an old belief that it would aid one to grow his beard faster, during Eid-al-Adha celebrations at the Blue Mosque in Taguig city, south of Manila. Photograph: Romeo Ranoco/Reuters

A vendor washes a goat for sale ahead of Eid al-Adha at a car wash in a makeshift market in Jakarta. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters

A Bosnian Muslim sharpens a knife before slaughtering a sheep during the first day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in the village of Ponirak. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Reuters