Besides participating and witnessing a host of activities lined up for its ‘Communities
Eid al-Adha 2016 Celebrations’ by the Ministry of Interior (MOI), members of different
communities will be throwing special parties for family and friends, writes Umer Nangiana

It is that time of the year, again. And it will be celebrated with the same traditional fervour and enthusiasm witnessed during the past years. Different expatriate Muslim communities living in Qatar are coming together to put up grand celebrations for the Festival of Sacrifice.
Besides participating and witnessing a host of activities lined up for its ‘Communities Eid al-Adha 2016 Celebrations’ by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) spread over two days of Eid, members of different communities will be throwing special parties for family and friends.
After converging for the early morning Eid prayers, people will head to offer the obligatory sacrifice before joining friends at their homes for meet and greets.
Second of the two Muslim holidays celebrated worldwide each year, Eid al-Adha is considered the holier of the two. The sacrifice of an animal on this occasion honours the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) to sacrifice his son as an act of submission to God’s command.
The meat from the sacrificed animal is preferred to be divided into three parts. The family retains one share; another is given to relatives, friends and neighbours; and the third is given to the poor and needy.
“In the early morning, the community members head to mosques to offer prayers together with family and friends and then we go to offer sacrifice,” Abdus Sattar, the former President of Jalalabad Association, the community organisation of Bangladeshi expatriates living in Qatar, tells Community.
“With the meat from the sacrificial animal, we then go to the homes of relatives and friends to distribute and celebrate the occasion together. Many people host parties for their friends at home,” he adds.
In the evening, the Bangladeshi community members will have a chance to witness traditional performance lined up for the occasion by the MoI at Wakrah Stadium on the first day of Eid and at the Asian Town on the second day of Eid.
The Bangladeshi community musical troupes Otopar, Chironton baul and Srabon, along with well-known community singer Ms. Sinthia, will join the event by presenting songs and comedy shows.
Members of Bangladeshi community living in Al Khor will also celebrate Eid with programmes hosted at Barwa Workers Recreation Complex in Al Khor Industrial Area organised by Barwa group in collaboration with MoI. It will showcase community performances and musical concerts on the first and second days of Eid.
“Later on in the year, we will be organising a grand Eid celebration of our members of the association and community in a programme as most of the people are currently out on vacation and will not be back on time to join on Eid days,” S A Khan, the President of Jalalabad Association tells Community. He said the dates for the programme will be announced later.
Muslim members of Sri Lankan community living in Qatar will also host activities during the two days of Eid. Special Eid prayers will be held at Stafford Sri Lankan School in the morning by the Federation of Sri Lankan Muslim Association.
Members of Sri Lankan Muslim community are gathering on the school premises to offer prayers and meet and greets.  
“Generally in Qatar, we organise Eid prayers in a common place attended by more than 1,500 people, including both men and women and a sermon is conducted in Tamil,” Hazim Hamza, the President of Sri Lankan Muslim Majlis (SLMQ) tells Community.
He says until last year SLMQ had been organising the programme for the last 13 years, but the Federation of Sri Lankan Muslim Associations Qatar (FSMA-Qatar) has taken it over from last Eid.
“FSMA is an umbrella organisation of Muslim Associations with a common working platform and better understanding among organisations to avoid duplication of events and activities,” says Hamza.
Sri Lankan Coordination Committee (SLCC) is taking part in both days of Eid celebrations with programme hosted by the Ministry of Interior including the presentation of Sinhalese, Tamil and Hindi songs on the occasion.
“We have five performances and are expecting a large number of Sri Lankan Muslim community members,” Tenisan De Silva, the President of SLCC tells Community. The show will have cultural performances and folk songs prepared and compiled by the local community members, he adds.
Members of the Pakistani community living in Qatar, a large component of them comprising people coming from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan, will gather at the Wakrah Stadium on the first day of Eid.
Well-known Pakistani singers Waheed Achakzai and Nadiya Gul, multi-lingual singer Rizwana and Peshawari singer Mariyah Khan will be leading the cultural programme in Al Wakrah Sports Club. On the second day of Eid, the same Pakistani singers will perform in Asian Town communities from 9pm.
A large number of Pashto (regional language of KP) speaking members of Pakistani community will have a chance to enjoy their traditional Pashto folk songs and performances.
“Last year, we received more than 10,000 people for the cultural programme at Wakrah stadium and this time we are expecting an even bigger audience as this programme is particularly popular with the local expatriate Pakistani community,” Jenan Bangash, a Pakistani community leader and organiser of the event tells Community.
Bangash says entry for the members of Pakistani community at the show is free and everybody is welcome. “There will be cultural performances in Urdu and many other regional languages of Pakistan, including Sindhi, Balochi and Punjabi. The programme has a lot for everyone to enjoy,” enthuses Bangash.
The Ministry of Interior has made entry to all the programmes for the Communities Eid al-Adha celebrations over the two days completely free with prizes on offer through raffle draws. There will be separate areas for families in each venue.