Central Florida’s Muslim community celebrates its second most important religious holiday after Ramadan this weekend.
Festivities at the American Muslim Community Center in Longwood are open to the community and will begin with a prayer at 8:30 Sunday morning.
Eid al-Adha celebrates the prophet Abraham’s obedience to God.
Community Center Chair Atif Fareed says Muslims in Longwood will observe the holiday on Sunday by making a sacrifice to God.
He says some families will choose to slaughter an animal and donate one third of its meat to feed the hungry.
“We usually set up a distribution center at the mosque and at the local meat store where people from our community can come.”
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Others will make sacrifices of their time and funds to local charities that work with the poor.
“There’s always a lot of fundraising for causes right here in the United States and all over the world.”
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Fareed says they’re planning to increase security after recent shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
“We have our own security team that will work with the City of Sanford Police Department to ensure that everybody’s safe and everybody feels secure in such a large gathering.”
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He says local officials, law enforcement and religious leaders from the Christian and Jewish communities will be in attendance.
The events including abreakfast and children's activitiesare open to the public and take place at the Sanford Civic Center.
For more information, or to RSVP check out the AMCC's Facebook page.
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