Year 5 were delighted to welcome Ms Ahmed to Sutton High Prep again last week, when she shared her new book with us. This is an ‘Eid Al Adha workbook’ and the content was perfect for us to learn about, as it fitted so well with our lessons about Islam.
A cute character, Fluffy the sheep, appears throughout the book and the girls were fascinated to find out about Fluffy’s significance in Eid Al Adha.
Eid Al Adha means ‘sacrifice’ and this important time in the Muslim calendar revolves around Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and how God tested his faith by telling him to sacrifice his beloved son (Prophet Ismail), providing a sheep as a sacrifice in the final moments. The girls learnt that pilgrims to Makkah, who are completing Hajj (pilgrimage), do significant things that are linked with these events in Ibrahim’s life, such as drinking from the spring of Zam Zam. This spring appeared when Prophet Ibrahim’s son kicked his feet in the desert, thirsty, as his mother (Hajr) tirelessly searched for water for him to drink. Another ritual performed on Hajj is throwing small stones to symbolise chasing Satan away, as Prophet Ibrahim did when he was being tempted by Satan to disobey the will of God. The ten days (Dhul HIjjah) before Eid al Adha are an important time to encourage people to show empathy and think about sacrificing something they love to make a positive change in their lives. These are the best 10 days in a Muslim’s calendar to perform good deeds and increase worship. We learnt more about the significance of the Kabah (House of God), the square stone building inside the main mosque in Makkah: it symbolises the people’s belief in monotheism – a belief in one God and the first House of Worship. Muslims around the globe also pray in the direction of the Kabah when performing prayer.
Ms Ahmed also talked about how Muslims wear their best clothes for Eid – new clothes if they can – and give money to charity so that poorer people or orphans can have new clothes too. Year 5 had fun looking through the book’s wordsearch to find the special words linked to Eid Al Adha and asked thoughtful questions.
Ms Ahmed has kindly donated a signed copy of her book, which will be kept in the Prep School library. Thank you very much, Ms Ahmed, for your interesting, informative and inspiring time with us!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eid-Adha-workbook-Samia-Ahmed/dp/B0D2QQ5L32?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE