The celebration takes place in mosques, places of prayer and homes in a context of the Covid-19 health crisis.
The Feast of Tabaski is celebrated by the Muslim community on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The Head of State also decreed July 19, 2021, a public holiday on the eve of this feast on July 20. A decree in accordance with the law of December 7, 1973 establishing the regime of legal holidays, modified and supplemented by the law of June 8, 1976.
On social media, President Paul Biya wished a happy celebration of Eid al-Kebir to the entire Muslim community. The tenant of Etoudi Palace invites the community to pray for peace and stability in the country.
The feast of the sheep corresponds to the 10th day of the Hegirian month in remembrance of Ibrahim’s sacrifice. It directly echoes the episode of Abraham’s sacrifice (Ibrahim in Arabic) which appears both in the Koran and in the Old Testament of the Bible. According to the holy scriptures, the feast of sacrifice or Tabaski recalls a story between God and Abraham, his servant. The first ordered the second to offer his only son named Isaac as a sacrifice.
Despite the feeling of love and affection for his only son, Abraham consented to carry out divine order for his devotion and obedience to God. When the day came, when Ibrahim was about to eliminate his son, God sent Archangel Gabriel (Djibril) who replaced the child with a sheep; which served as a sacrificial offering. It is in remembrance of Abraham’s devotion to God that Muslims celebrate each year, the feast also known as the Feast of the Sheep.
In this Koranic story, both the testing of faith and divine mercy appear. Note that sura 37 (verses 105 to 113) refers to a “generous immolation”, instead of the sacrifice of the son of Abraham, which is similar for the interpreters of the Muslim religion to the sacrifice of a sheep. or a ram, sometimes a goat or a cow. The sheep festival closes the pilgrimage to Mecca.