"And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son."
At this very moment, the angel of the Lord stopped him and said,
"Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son." Genesis 22:10, 12
This event took place many thousands of years ago, but it is still celebrated in the Muslim world as Eid ul-Adha and lasts for 5 days. To commemorate Abraham's sacrifice, Muslims sacrifice a goat, a sheep, a cow or a camel or any other animal they normally eat and then give out the sacrificed meat to other Muslim friends and the poor. Eid ul-Adha is a holy and sacred time.
Everywhere we go we see big pens of sheep, waiting their fate.
Men bargain for the best sheep they can find and at a good price. They stuff the live sheep into the trunk of their car or back of a pick-up and they take them home. The sheep don't like it much.
Notice the camel on the right. We've been told that a camel costs about 1,000 JOD. Some people like camel, but lamb is the most popular meat for Eid ul-Adha.
Virginia Malah, (a member of the Church who is married to a Muslim man) described the scene at their home on Friday where a large group of extended family members gathered to slaughter 4 sheep. They do this every year and Virginia doesn't like it. She says the blood runs everywhere and the smell stays in the house and yard for a long time. She was thankful to her husband for allowing her to "escape" and come to Church. Later, she sent us a message saying that when she returned home, two of the sheep had been slaughtered and two had run off and they couldn't be found. We suggested that they "look in the thicket."
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