Muslim Festivals
Islam celebrates two great festivals annually – Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha. The first is the great festival that follows the month of Ramadan when the fast is broken. The second occurs about two months later during the month of Zil-Hajj when an animal is sacrificed in commemoration of Abraham\’s sacrifice of his son. This festival is incorporated in the great pilgrimage to Mecca which should properly be made during this month but it is also observed all over the Muslim world at the same time. The underlying importance of this festival is the spirit of sacrifice (qurbani) in memory of Abraham\’s great act of faith many centuries ago.
Eid-ul-Adha is, according to Islamic teaching, a time for Muslims to learn the value of self-denial by making a sacrifice of something living to God. It is stringently denied by most Muslim theologians that the sacrifice has any further significance and it is especially denied that religious sacrifice has any atoning or propitiatory value. Abraham\’s great act of submission is thus regarded solely as an example of genuine surrender to the will of God and is to be followed as such.
The main Hajj will take place from October 2 – October 7, 2014. Eid ul-Adha is expected to take place on October 5, 2014.
- Decree and declare that the spirit of death which attends the hajj where people die in mass stampedes will no longer be exchanged in the nations. We command that spirit to remain in that territory in this season.
- Pray that those who go to exchange destinies and make covenants with death shall be swallowed up by those very spirits they try to distribute in the nations when they disperse from Mecca/Medina.
- Pray that as many as are diligently seeking the Lord in doing this ritual pilgrimage will encounter the risen Lord and have a Damascus experience right there in Mecca/Medina.
- Proclaim Psalm 29.
- Pray that in this season of intense activity, the heavens will speak to the earth to release its best for the saints and will also be called upon to fight on behalf of the saints.