May 10 set as Moslem's Sacrifice Day

May 10 set as Moslem's Sacrifice Day

JAKARTA (JP): The government announced yesterday that Moslems
in Indonesia will celebrate the Day of Sacrifice on Wednesday,
May 10, as will co-religionists in the Holy Land in Saudi Arabia.

The celebration will be on the same date because of a change,
announced yesterday by the Saudi Arabian government, in the time
fixed for the observance of a haj pilgrimage rite.

Initially, the rite of stopping in the Arafah Plain was to be
held on Monday, May 8, which would have meant that the Moslems
who are now on the haj pilgrimage would have made their offering
of livestock on May 9.

However, certain astronomical calculations and observations
conducted on Monday resulted in the decision that the Islamic
month of Dzulqaidah would last for 30 days, so that the sacrifice
day, which falls on the tenth day of the Islamic month of
Dzulhijjah, will coincide with May 10.

This change means that the rite of wukuf in the plain will
have to be performed on Tuesday.

On the Day of Sacrifice, Moslems all over the world sacrifice
livestock in a rite imitating the Prophet Abraham's preparations
to sacrifice his son Ismail.

The Antara news agency reported that most of the Indonesian
pilgrims now in the Holy Land, together with the trip's
organizers, had expected the wukuf to be performed on Monday, and
had prepared for all related activities accordingly.

With the announcement, the trip organizers have now been
forced to make some new arrangements, the agency reported.

An official of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Soufjan
Daud, said the date change would not cause too much trouble for
the official trip organizers.

The only people who will be affected by the change are
pilgrims who have already had to postpone some activities because
of illness. "The rest of the activities will go ahead as
planned," Daud said.

The problem of differing dates for Islamic holy days is long
standing, and has often been a source of conflict between
Moslems. In Indonesia, many Moslem communities have, at one time
or another, had to celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday on a
different day from other communities.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher took up his post
in 1993 vowing that he would launch rigorous campaign to ensure
that Moslems here celebrated, on the same days, both the onset of
the Ramadhan fasting month and the Idul Fitri celebration.

This year he was successful because all of the major Moslem
organizations agreed to have Idul Fitri at the same time.

Antara reported yesterday that another change in the
pilgrimage rites concerned the annual cleaning of the Holy Shrine
of Kaaba in Mecca and the replacement of the kiswah, the shrine's
covering.

The first rite is usually carried out on the first day of
Dzulhijjah, which coincides with May 1, but this year it was
performed on Dzulqaidah 30, which fell on Sunday.

The replacement of the shrine's covering will be carried out
on Tuesday, May 9, when the pilgrims are in the Arafah Plain.

On Monday, local time, the team of Indonesian pilgrimage
organizers held a mass prayer in the camps, another rite usually
performed a week prior to the stopping in the plain.

Led by senior ulemas Husen Affandi and Hamid Alawy Alqof, the
pilgrims recited Koranic verses and prayed for the safety of all
pilgrims.

By Monday, a total of 54 Indonesian pilgrims have died from
various causes, including five through traffic accidents, during
this year's pilgrimage. (swe)