File Photo: A vendor carries sheep at an old cattle market named "Al Emam Market" ahead of the Muslim sacrificial festival Eid al-Adha in Cairo, Egypt, September 19, 2015 (Photo: Reuters)
Egyptian officials have announced the date of the Muslim religious festival Eid Al-Adha this year, saying it will fall on Friday, 1 September.
The date was announced on Monday by Egypt’s Astronomical and Geophysics Institute, which is responsible for official astronomical calculations.
Eid Al-Adha is the second of two major religious holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world, the other being Eid Al-Fitr.
In statements to the state-owned news agency MENA, the head of the institute, Hatem Ouda, said that, based on astronomical calculations conducted by the institute’s observers, the Day of Arafah will be on Thursday, 31 August.
The Day of Arafah precedes the start of Eid Al-Adha in the Islamic world by 24 hours, according to the Islamic calendar.
The Day of Arafah marks the second day of the Islamic pilgrimage at the holy site of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Eid Al-Adha, which lasts for four days, honors the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son Ismail as an act of submission to God’s command.
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