Eid al-Adha brings Long Island Muslims together for the three-day holiday

Sundus Imam was in Saudi Arabia last year for Hajj, the grueling sacred pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are required to make at least once in their lives if they can.

On Friday, a year later, she found herself in her native Mt. Sinai, attending services marking Eid al-Adha, a major three-day Muslim holiday that began Friday and coincides with the end of Hajj.

Both experiences were deeply meaningful, she said.

The two-week Hajj, with an estimated 1.7 million pilgrims last year, was "life-changing," said Imam, 29. "It's like 10 times hotter than it was here. So it was very difficult, but it's something that you push through and it's very rewarding. It makes you appreciate everything in your life ... It's a blessing to be able to go."

The prayer service at the Mt. Sinai Muslim Center attracted more than 1,000 people on Friday and was also fulfilling, she said. She reunited with childhood friends and relatives including a brother who flew in from Texas.

"It's a reunion for the whole community," she said.

The faithful also gathered at more than two dozen mosques throughout Long Island, which is home to an estimated 100,000 Muslims. Islam is the largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 2 billion followers.

The holy festival commemorates the biblical patriarch Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God’s command. Abraham did not kill his son, who was spared by God. Instead, Abraham sacrificed a ram.

Thousands of years later, Muslims around the world recall the story by having an animal sacrificed, usually a goat or a lamb. They distribute a third of the meat to poor people and a third to relatives and friends. They keep the final third for themselves.

The Hajj leading up to Eid al-Adha is one of the five pillars of Islam. The pilgrimage is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. Mecca, considered the holiest city in Islam, is the site of Muhammad’s first revelation of the Quran.

Aamna Qureshi, 26, of Mt. Sinai, says Eid al-Adha is so special that many of her friends and relatives plan their schedules around it — taking off from work and even flying in from around the country. One of her uncles came in from Atlanta, she said.

She noted that many Muslims are immigrants with no relatives here, so the mosque and the community — especially during holy days — "kind of becomes like family."

On Friday, many of the faithful in Mt. Sinai said after the prayer service they planned to spend the day with family and friends eating elaborate holiday meals.

Some also planned to give toys to their children — a relatively new tradition and something inspired by Christmas presents, said Athar Tirimizi, 42, of Mt. Sinai. That is a sign of how Muslims are increasingly assimilating into American culture, he said.

"It's a beautiful mosaic that we are seeing in the United States," Tirimizi said. "Muslims are like becoming part of the culture."