As worshippers across the world enjoy the family gatherings of Eid ul Adha, many will be planning ahead to work out when it might be in 2023. The event, also written as Eid al-Adha, Greater Eid, Big Eid, Bakra Eid and other names, means 'festival of the sacrifice' and is very different from the earlier Eid ul Fitr at the end of Ramadan.
For some, Eid ul Adha comes while they are performing Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims must make in their lifetime if they are able to do so. Both these significant events are within the 12th and final month of Dhul Hijjah.
Eid ul Adha is the second Eid festival in the Islamic calendar and saw thousands of people come together in Birmingham's parks iincluding a main celebration in Small Heath Park on July 9, 2022. The festival actually goes on for several days and in Islamic countries is part of public holidays lasting up to two weeks.
READ MORE:Eid ul Adha UK moonsighting latest as scholars meet in Birmingham to confirm date
When is Eid ul Adha 2023?
The first thing to know is that the Islamic calendar is lunar, with the start and end of each month determined by a sighting of the first faint crescent of the new moon. As a lunar year amounts to 354 days, it's shorter than the 365 [or sometimes 366] days of the sun-based Gregorian calendar and means Islamic dates shift forward by 10 or 11 days a year.
At the end of the month of Dhil Hijjah, another Islamic year will start and that will be 1444 in the Islamic calendar, also called the Hijiri calendar. So the next thing to bear in mind is when Eid ul Adha will fall in the year 1444. That'll be during 2023 in Gregorian calendar terms.
Based on predictions recorded on the Umm Al Qura Calendar in Saudi Arabia, the next Eid ul Adha will be on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. But this may be revised nearer the time as a verified moon sighting will be needed to confirm the date.
Notes attached to the Umm Al Qura Calendar do give the disclaimer that it is "intended for civil purposes only" and add that its makers "are well aware of the fact that the first visual sighting of the lunar crescent can occur up to two days after the date predicted by the calendar."
For Eid ul Adha 2022, the Umm Al Qura calendar predicted July 9, which Saudi Arabia and some others declared as the correct date despite astronomers saying the moon would not visible, while others named July 10 as their date for Eid. Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre [GLMCC] in Birmingham, which organises the city's main Eid celebrations, follows the Saudi announcements.
What is Eid ul Adha?
Eid ul Adha is a festival in which worshippers demonstrate their religious faith, a tradition that started when Ibrahim [the same as the Abraham of Christian and Jewish texts] agreed to sacrifice his own son when commanded to do so by Allah [God].
Although Satan tried to distract him from the task, Ibrahim drove the devil away by throwing stones - an act that has been preserved as a ritual during the Hajj. God then saw the strength of Ibrahim's devotion - and sent him a ram to slaughter instead.
This has been preserved as the idea of a person showing their piety and obedience to God by being prepared to sacrifice what they love most. These days, families carry out or arrange the slaughter of an animal and share the meat three ways - among family; relatives and friends; and the poor and needy.
This religious sacrifice is called Qurbani. Muslims can choose to do this through a Qurbani donation, which is used to pay for the slaughter of an animal to feed people in poorer parts of the world. Amounts ranging from £25 to £1,750 are donated to charities and relief organisations so that people living in poverty can enjoy a feast at Eid ul Adha too. For this reason, Eid ul Adha is sometimes known as Qurbani Eid.
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Eid al-Adha [Feast of Sacrifice] is one of the most important days on the Muslim calendar and is celebrated in the UAE and all over the Muslim world.
2023 | 28 Jun | Wed | Eid al-Adha |
29 Jun | Thu | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
30 Jun | Fri | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2024 | 16 Jun | Sun | Eid al-Adha |
17 Jun | Mon | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
18 Jun | Tue | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2025 | 6 Jun | Fri | Eid al-Adha |
7 Jun | Sat | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
8 Jun | Sun | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2026 | 27 May | Wed | Eid al-Adha |
28 May | Thu | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
29 May | Fri | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates. |
In the UAE, as in many Muslim countries, Eid al-Adha is a time of family and religious devotion. Considering that eid means “solemn festival,” it is not surprising that Eid al-Adha has a distinctly religiousness to it, with morning prayers at the mosque, listening to a sermon on the importance of sacrifice, wearing new clothes, and animal sacrifice [called qurbani] constituting a major part of how it is observed.
Eid al-Adha generally lasts for four days straight, beginning on the 10th day of the Islamic month Dhul Hijja. Also note that the exact date is never set in stone until a government moon-sighting committee officially declares it.
Eid al-Adha commemorates the Quranic account of Ibrahim unquestioningly offering up Ishmael on Mount Moriah in obedience to Allah’s command. Allah then sends an angel to stop the sacrifice short, allowing Ishmael to live, and assures Ibrahim that his sacrifice “has already been accepted.”
Muslims who can afford it, both in the UAE and elsewhere, often go on pilgrimage to Mecca at this time of year to take part in symbolic remembrances of Ibrahim’s sacrifice. Others, however, sacrifice an animal in their home country, usually a cow but sometimes a camel, sheep, goat, or ram.
Sacrificial animals must meet halal standards, be the best the owner has to offer, and pass inspection by religious authorities. In the UAE, for health reasons, it is illegal to sacrifice animals at home or in public. Instead, they must be taken to one of the nation’s four official slaughter houses.
For those who cannot afford to buy a sacrificial animal on their own, family and group purchases are common. The meat from the sacrificed animal is traditionally divided into three parts. A third is kept by the family, a third is given to friends and relatives, and a third is donated to the poor.
Previous Years
2022 | 9 Jul | Sat | Eid al-Adha |
10 Jul | Sun | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
11 Jul | Mon | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2021 | 20 Jul | Tue | Eid al-Adha |
21 Jul | Wed | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
22 Jul | Thu | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2020 | 31 Jul | Fri | Eid al-Adha |
1 Aug | Sat | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2 Aug | Sun | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2019 | 11 Aug | Sun | Eid al-Adha |
12 Aug | Mon | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
13 Aug | Tue | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2018 | 21 Aug | Tue | Eid al-Adha |
22 Aug | Wed | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
23 Aug | Thu | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
2017 | 1 Sep | Fri | Eid al-Adha |
2 Sep | Sat | Eid al-Adha Holiday | |
3 Sep | Sun | Eid al-Adha Holiday |