[Video] Eid-el-Kabir/Ileya And Ram Fights

Today, Muslims all around the world celebrated Eid-el-Kabir or what Yoruba muslims call "Ileya Festival". This is one of the most significant festivals in Islam, a symbolic commemoration of a rare demonstration of faith, courage and total obedience to Allah by Abraham.

According to the Holy Quran, Abraham, acting on the instruction of Allah accepted to offer his son, Ishmael, as sacrifice to Allah. Abraham’s absolute willingness to heed the command of Allah is what is expressed symbolically by killing a ram as substitute for Ishmael at Eid-el-Kabir annually by all faithful Muslims worldwide.

A key aspect of the celebration is that the meat of the ram so offered sacrificially is divided into three parts. One-third of the meat goes to the family; the second portion is given to relatives, friends and neighbours and the other third is given to the poor and needy. 

Another aspect of this festival which i believe is peculiar to Nigeria is the ram fight. this is when muslims bring out their rams to fight on the streets, the national stadium or other designated areas and you have people placing bets on rams they feel would win the day. Noteworthy is an excerpt from my friend, Samson's note which actually inspired this post is the fact that,  "During those fights, if a ram is injured and bleeds, immediately you hear people scream 'eran yi o wo'Leya', literally meaning, this ram isn't worthy of the Ileya Festival and a curious thing follows, the affected owner sells the ram to someone who doesn't need it for the festival or preserves it for another occasion."

So what did i do? I woke up as early as 5.30 this morning, all excited because i had a little trip in mind and ofcourse i dragged Samson along, we scoured through Surulere in the heavy rain looking for where to watch ram fights and ofcourse share with you guys but nobody came out because of the rain but i was a bit lucky to have caught a mini ram fight on my street yesterday. Enjoy!

Just like Samson mentioned in his note, maybe there's more to ram fights that we don't know, is there? Muslims do share with us please.

Field Trip With Samson