Eurasia Press & News
Muslims in Bosnia celebrate on Friday Eid-al-Adha, one of the two greatest religious holidays, differently than their fellows in Macedonia, Albania or Turkey due to different calendar calculations.The Eid-al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice which is one of the greatest Muslim holidays, is being celebrated in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia on Friday while Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish Muslims started celebrating it on Thursday.
Bosnian, Kosovan, Serbian and Croatian Muslims celebrate the holiday on Friday, in accordance with date for the start of the feast in Saudi Arabia.
Head of the Bosnian Islamic Community, Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Effendi Ceric, decided last week that Eid in Bosnia will be celebrated then even though Bosnia at first used the same methodology to determine that Eid was on Thursday but later changed it to be at the same day as in Saudi Arabia.
Ceric said in his last week’s fatwa, which is a ruling issued by the head mufti, that Bosnia determines its Islamic calender on the basis of astrological estimations on the new moon accept in cases when the date of the feast is determined due to the Day of Arafat, which is the last day of hajj.
“Since the Prophet Mohamed said that the Day of Arafat is the day when pilgrims stand on the Arafat hill it is clear that Eid can be celebrated after that, and not before that,” Ceric said in his ruling.
Eid al-Adha begins on the 10th day of the month of Dhu al-Hijja on the Muslim lunar calendar and also after the Hajj which is the annual pilgrimage to holly town of Mecca in Saudi Arabia where millions of Muslims come every year.
The holiday is usually calculated to be two months and ten days after the holly month of Ramadan finishes when Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
Some country Islamic communities decided to celebrate Eid-al-Adha on Thusday calculating that usual time despite the fact that Hajj in Mecca finishes on Thursday and so celebrates Eid the next day.
