Today is Tabaski

Today is Tabaski. This is the day that the Moslems celebrate God saving Ishmael from being sacrificed on the altar by Abraham. (Yes, the Koran has a slightly different version from the account we read in Genesis.) As you may remember from Genesis, God provided a ram so that Abraham was not required to sacrifice Isaac, his only son.
So the Moslems have a big feast to celebrate. They traditionally kill a large male goat, a ram. (their favorite meat.) and cook him up with rice or couscous.
This is as big a holiday to them as Christmas is to us.
I was invited to Daoda’s house to celebrate with his family. I got there in time to help them slaughter their sacrificed ram. So here is a pic…
(Daoda is a moslem that I meet with regularly at his business. We sit and talk about 3 times a week.


I went into town, following the horde of motorbikes with people dressed in their “Sunday go to meetin” clothes. Actually, they were all dressed in newly made robes for the holiday. I arrived at the soccer field, where lines had been drawn so people would sit in an orderly fashion. I asked for permission to take a few pictures, it took longer to find the right guy to give permission than it did to take the pics.
The people were all there to see the ceremony where the head imam of the region would kill the sacrificed ram. Then all the people went home to prepare their feast.
Here is a pic of some of the crowd that was there today.




This celebration is somewhat like our thanksgiving. Everyone gets new clothes, and families get together, and everyone feasts on stewed/grilled mutton and rice. Then some parts of the meat are saved to gift to poor people in the neighborhood who maybe can’t afford their own ram.

A Christian lady asked us if she was offered meat that was killed for Tabaski, could she eat it? That question is answered very nicely by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. Can we eat meat sacrificed to false gods/idols? Paul says there is no sin in sharing in the meat, but be aware that you do not cause a weaker brother to stumble…
We always know the scripture is relevant for today, but that response was perfect for this lady!

Here is a pic of some church friends sharing a meal today. They had really good peanut sauce. I know because they offered me some :-)




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God Bless,
Tom