Eid al-Adha (The Feast of Sacrifice; or Eid al Kabeer, the Greater or Major Feast) should stand for Muslims as an opportunity for giving, spending time with family -- and let’s not leave out all the scrummy food and gifts, but as the so-called Islamic State wreaks havoc across the Middle East, will the bloodier than thou motley crew of so-called Muslims take some time off for this Muslim holiday or will it be business as usual?
While many critics have established that this self-branded Islamic State, loose-canon of caliphate seekers, should be denied their choice name and called instead the “un-Islamic State”, since the actions of these bloodthirsty extremist militants clearly don’t represent the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, we remain curious enough to monitor or else imagine how they enact the Islam they brandish; and it is at Islamic hot-points in the calendar that we can look to these faux-fundamentalists for their best practice. This year, along with beheadings, mutilations, crucifixions and rapes, IS will most likely combine its medieval tactics with the Feast of Sacrifice to celebrate in an alternative way.
Can’t touch this
To get pedantic about the tradition of this particular Eid that caps off the Hajj season, it is worth noting that we shouldn’t be expecting any IS members to be part of the homecoming from Hajj either. It is not only Ebola that the KSA is determined to keep at bay-- but given the existential war Saudi Arabia has declared on IS, it is unlikely that these would be NOT pilgrims will be able to get anywhere near the Kaaba for years to come (thank God!). Indeed, they have very little reason to be celebrating Eid this year!
If you thought Eid was supposed to be a peaceful period - a moment to pause, give thanks, reflect and spend that much needed down-time visiting relatives or eating till you can’t move - think again! The Islamic State (surely the paragons of all things Islam and religious custom) may have a bloodier and unholier agenda than thou to observe. Instead of sacrificing sheep in the name of God to mark the end of Hajj, who knows how many religions, creeds, and nationalities IS will replace for animals on the sacrificial alter in time for the feast. This is how we foresee IS celebrating Eid.*
*Disclaimer and warning: This slideshow uses humor, in particular satire and ridicule, to counter extremist narratives and to re-cast extremist heroes into objects of derision. We have employed language and/or images designed to provoke laughter, disrupt arguments, and counter taken-for-granted truths. We do not intend to offend, cause pain, or exhibit disrespect to our readers and to those affected by the groups we satirize. We aim to contribute to new sources of influence to the globally wired world of terrorism.
