The world’s Muslims on Sunday marked the Eidul Adha overshadowed by the Arab uprising and deadly attacks in Africa and Central Asia. This year the feast coincides with the turmoil of the democracy protests that swept the Arab world and led to the ouster of the autocratic leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Eid was being observed amid fears and tears in Nigeria, two days after attacks claimed by Islamists killed at least 150 people in the north-eastern city of Damaturu. Thousands gathered for Eid prayers at an open ground in Damaturu patrolled by dozens of armed police following Friday’s gun and bomb attacks. In Libya, people were struggling to find the funds to mark the feast due to skyrocketing prices in the wake of an eight-month rebellion.
In Syria, devotees emerged from Eid prayers on Sunday morning to rally against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime despite a protest crackdown which according to the United Nations has killed at least 3,000 people since March. And the security forces shot dead at least another 10 civilians, most of them in the restive central city of Homs. The latest bloodshed came as Syrian state radio reported Assad himself attended Al-Nur mosque in the northern town of Raqqa for morning prayers to mark the Muslim holy day. In Yemen, where protesters have been calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster since January, dissident general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar said his forces foiled a regime plot to blow up a car as he prayed in Sanaa. In Gaza City, Ismail Haniya, head of the Islamist Hamas government, addressed worshippers at the Palestine Mosque, and hailed the feast as the “Eid of Freedom” for the Arab world. Haniya said the feast was also an “Eid of Victory,” hailing a landmark prisoner swap deal that saw the movement free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for 1,027 jailed Palestinians.
In Saudi Arabia, almost three million pilgrims began stoning pillars representing Satan after massing in a valley near the holy city of Mina, the last and most dangerous rite of the annual hajj. “This ritual gives me moral strength. Right now I feel as though I’m defeating Satan,” said Mokhtar Khan, a 29-year-old who arrived at the site with dozens of fellow Bangladeshis who chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest). But despite their prayers, the first day of Eidul Adha was marred by more violence around the Muslim world. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed seven people, mostly civilians, as they returned from Eid prayers at a mosque in the northern city of Baghlan.
And in Iraq, four bombs exploded in Baghdad’s Shorjah market, killing at least one person and wounding eight.
