‘Praying in unity': Eid worshippers celebrate Feast of Sacrifice
Around 15,000 local Muslims converged on the convention centre Friday to mark Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
The event remembers the story in the Qur'an of Ibrahim's willingness to obey God by sacrificing his son, Ishmael (known as Abraham and Isaac in the Old Testament, or what Jews call the Tanakh). It was held in three sessions to accommodate everyone who came to pray and hear sermons from Islamic leaders.
French speaking worshippers also gathered at the Heather Curling Club for prayers.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Around 15,000 local Muslims converged on the convention centre Friday to mark Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
Ismael Mukhtar, an imam at the Grand Mosque, preached about the importance of being willing to follow God in life and to submit to him.
One of the leaders who preached at the convention centre was Ismael Mukhtar, an imam at the Grand Mosque. During his sermon, Mukhtar spoke about the importance of being willing to follow God in life and to submit to him.
'As Muslims, we are to follow the example of Ibrahim, to be willing to sacrifice what is most precious to us for God,' he told the gathering.
That, he added, is the essence of Islam, that 'we are willing to go to the furthest point of sacrifice in obedience to the creator.'
Eid al-Adha occurs at the end of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca. Like Eid al-Fitr, which takes place at the end of Ramadan, it has a major focus on charity, or what Muslims qurbani, or sacrifice.
In some countries in the global south, it is common for people to kill a goat, sheep or cow and donate some of the meat to people in need. In Canada, people donate an equivalent amount of the cost of an animal to an organization like Islamic Relief Canada, which uses the funds for programs overseas.
Manitoba Muslims were also encouraged to donate to the Canadian Red Cross to help wildfire evacuees. 'We are to care about people around the world, but also about people closer to home,' Mukhtar said.
Hisham Ali, a refugee from Sudan, said the celebration was a time to 'enjoy praying with people from other cultures.'
Separated from his family for more than two years, praying with a large group helped Ali, although he admitted it was difficult praying without his family.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Eid al-Adha occurs at the end of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca.
Fellow newcomer, Saheed Adeniyi, was happy to see people from different countries and cultures 'praying in unity.' Formerly from Nigeria, he said he hoped the Winnipeg community could see people coming together as one and be kind to one another.
Sundays
Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.
Nedzima Mehmedovic, who was there with her daughter, Adna, and mother, Nazifa Vukovic, called the prayers beautiful.
Mehmedovic, who has been in Canada for 20 years after immigrating with her family from Bosnia, says Eid al-Adha is a 'spiritually fulfilling' time.
'It's good to be with so many worshippers,' she said.
After the prayers, participants went to their homes to be with families and friends and to share meals together.
faith@freepress.mb.ca
The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks!
BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER
John LonghurstFaith reporter
John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.
Read full biography
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
6 hours ago
- Global News
Saskatchewan celebrates Eid Al-Adha
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Eid Al-Adha is a annual celebration for Muslims around the world to remember a prophet's story from the Holy Book Quran on Friday. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Thousands of Muslims in Saskatchewan came out to listen to the morning Eid sermon which was followed by a short prayer. Muslims typically celebrate Eid by sharing food, donating to the less fortunate and spending time with family and friends. More details can be found in the video above.
Winnipeg Free Press
15 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Serving a greying church
'God must like old people. He keeps creating more of them.' So quipped Scott Tolhurst, a former pastor who, over the course of his 48 years in ministry, developed a heart for service to seniors. Current demographics prove him right. According to Statistics Canada, seniors are the fastest-growing group in Canada. Today there are over seven million Canadians 65 and older — or about 20 per cent of the population. By 2068 that is projected to rise to 25 per cent. But it's not just society that's greying; so are churches. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, in 2024 36 per cent of members of American congregations were over 65. At the same time, the percentage of those under 35 who attended religious services of all denominations fell to 32 per cent. Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS files According to Statistics Canada, seniors are the fastest-growing group in Canada. Or, as the institute put it, there are now more churchgoers older than 65 than younger than 35 in U.S. churches — and likely in Canada, too. Despite the rising number of older adults in congregations, many churches are still focused mostly on serving younger people and families, Tolhurst said. 'Seniors can be people nobody thinks of much,' said the 69-year-old. 'These are people who were very loyal, sacrificial, and who had a love for Jesus beyond words. But now they are often on the periphery in the church, left on their own.' What hurts many seniors is how their churches don't see them as having much to offer beyond money. For Tolhurst, that's a form of spiritual ageism. 'Churches need to shift their thinking to see seniors as a resource in their congregations,' he said. 'Seniors still want to serve. They have given all their lives. They're not ready to stop now.' He acknowledges seniors face unique challenges that can impact their service, such as health, loss, grief, loss of independence and other limitations. 'But they still have much to give,' he says. 'They just need someone to ask them.' Jane Kuepfer directs the Schlegel Institute in Spirituality & Aging at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo. She also feels many churches today don't value older people. Instead, many are putting all their efforts into attracting younger people. This is a great loss. 'There is great potential in older people,' Kuepfer said. 'They are an incredible resource. We need to encourage churches to pay more attention to people in the third act of life.' Kuepfer wants churches to realize God doesn't stop calling people to various kinds of service just because they're older. 'God will call us to different things at different stages of our lives,' she said. But, she added, God still calls — including when people are older. The best way for churches to do a better job of serving seniors is by just listening to them, Kuepfer said. 'Find out what they need to keep them spiritually sustained and healthy. Ask them what they need, where they're at and how they might become involved,' she said. As for churches worried about their futures, she suggests they would do well to focus on who is in the pews right now. 'What if the future is serving older adults? An older congregation doesn't infer a dying congregation,' she said. Tom McCormick, 75, felt a call to serve seniors when he was in his 20s. He ended up serving people in long-term care for some 50 years and also wrote two books on nursing home ministry. For him, serving seniors is 'about following a scriptural mandate. It's what it means to be the people of God.' What disappoints McCormick is how few churches seem interested in service to seniors. 'When I talk to churches, I'm often told they want to focus on the emerging generation, there's more future there,' he said. 'It must break the Lord's heart to see older people neglected by the Church in this way.' McCormick is also disappointed by the lack of courses about ministry to seniors at Canadian seminaries. 'Seminaries tell me [that subject] isn't marketable,' he says. And yet, he noted, people graduating as clergy today will find themselves in churches with a large number of seniors — but with little training in how to minister to them and their unique needs. 'Not enough seminaries are preparing clergy for this reality. It's a real blind spot,' he said. In 1971, singer-songwriter John Prine wrote a song titled Hello in There, about an older couple whose children had moved away and left their parents on their own. In the song, the couple describes the loneliness they felt. The chorus goes like this: 'You know that old trees just grow stronger And old rivers grow wider every day Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say 'Hello in there, hello.'' I wonder how many churches, and other places of worship, are saying hello to seniors as society ages? faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
MMF command centre gives evacuees ‘retail therapy'
A tired-looking man walked into the Manitoba Métis Federation's makeshift command centre for people displaced by wildfires with a simple request Friday afternoon. 'I just want to get settled in,' he told a group of volunteers that gathered around him at the building's entrance. The man arrived in Winnipeg earlier that day, one of more than 18,000 Manitobans who have had to flee their homes due to out-of-control wildfires across portions of the province. He knows he needs toiletries, and would appreciate a snack, but isn't sure what else he might need. A volunteer gestured toward the wall-to-wall piles of organized donations. 'Let's get you some retail therapy.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Kit Carleton a staff member at the Louis Riel Institute volunteers at the MMF's emergency centre. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Kit Carleton a staff member at the Louis Riel Institute volunteers at the MMF's emergency centre. The building, at 406 McGregor St., thrums with activity. Thousands of donations fill every room and line the walls — food, drinks, stacks of folded clothes, books, baby formula, children's activities and hygiene products. In the back are some of the most hotly requested items: wheelchairs, walkers, baby chairs, strollers — assistive supports that people were forced to leave behind in the rush to get to safety. Volunteers of all ages run from room to room, helping visitors and organizing donations. In the front of the building, more immediate needs are met. Computers with Wi-Fi are arranged on a table for people to get online, a kids movie is projected on a rare empty wall, and colouring pages and toys are strewn about. Individual Saran-wrapped pieces of bannock with jam is popular with people walking in. The doors are open for any evacuee who needs it, Red River Métis or otherwise, and MMF-sponsored buses pick up people staying in hotels who may be short on essentials, or for those just looking for something to do. They're encouraged to take their time and browse — volunteers and organizers describe it as shopping, and a break from the emergency that's defined their lives for the last while. 'It's a little bit of normalcy, and it's a little bit of something that's pleasant and good and gives them some choices, in a world where they haven't had a ton of choices,' said MMF spokesperson Kat Patenaude, ho has also taken on a liaison role in wildfire support evacuee efforts. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Stephanie Meilleur (right) director of Red River Métis community resources department talks to MMF media relations advisor is Kat Patenaude (left) in the command centre. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Stephanie Meilleur (right) director of Red River Métis community resources department talks to MMF media relations advisor is Kat Patenaude (left) in the command centre. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for at least 27 communities in Manitoba. While some are staying with family or friends, others are in hotel rooms or staying on cots in evacuee shelters. Patenaude says hundreds of evacuees have passed through the doors in the weeks since the wildfires first broke out. When it became clear the MMF wouldn't have trouble soliciting donations or ensuring the needs of their membership were met, they began to strategize on how best to ensure people were getting the highest standard of care they could, with an Indigenous-led focus, said Stephanie Meilleur, the MMF's community resources department director. On the ground, it presents itself in different ways, she said: products for elders, mothers and infants stacked high, and hot cooked meals in the evenings consisting of staples like corn, fish, fry bread and soups — what someone visiting might have eaten at home. 'Evacuees are sitting in congregate shelters in other areas, and they're being fed pizza and Subway and foods that they are not used to, and they are looking for that Indigenous warm meal, and we are happy to provide those meals at supper time every night here,' she said. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Kitchen mama, Savannah Sauvé (left) and Bus Girl, Shelby Broatch, put together a hamper of sandwiches for evacuees and volunteers. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Kitchen mama, Savannah Sauvé (left) and Bus Girl, Shelby Broatch, put together a hamper of sandwiches for evacuees and volunteers. There are still a few high-demand products the centre seeks, namely baby formula, suitcases and luggage, strollers, and grocery carts. Meilleur said that evacuations, and the wildfires themselves, remain unpredictable, and they're taking the level of need day-by-day. 'We are setting ourselves up to potentially be doing this long term. No one knows anything,' she said. Meanwhile, at Red River College Polytech, therapy dogs were brought in Friday — but not for stressed-out students. More than 100 evacuees were set to arrive at RRC Polytech's Notre Dame campus Friday, where a temporary shelter with 180 cots has been set up in the North Gym. The college has brought in counselors, and is making use of the educational tools at their disposal by offering tutoring services and programming for school-age evacuees. 'We're stepping up for whatever it is that the the evacuees need, we're going to be able to figure out a way to help them,' spokesperson Jodi Pluchinski said. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Volunteers load up a trailer headed to The Pas at 406 McGregor St. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Volunteers load up a trailer headed to The Pas at 406 McGregor St. Other shelters, like the one set up in Winkler's Meridian Exhibition Centre, are waiting on standby. Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens said the entire city leapt to action when the province said evacuees could be sent their way. Within 24 hours, the building was filled with cots and basic supplies. Local businesses, religious organizations, and the neighbouring city of Morden reached out to ask how they could help. 'We mobilized extremely quickly,' Siemens said. Despite around 800 Manitoba evacuees having been sent to hotels in Ontario, Winkler's shelter remains empty. Siemens said around 40 evacuees are staying in hotels in the city. He knows that could change at a moment's notice, and said Winkler's emergency response team is on high alert. 'At this time, our facility is fully ready,' he said. 'We have everything in place.' Malak AbasReporter Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak. Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
