A Day to remember
Yesterday, 12th September 2016, was an unexpected gift after the government of Kenya decided to give its citizens a holiday.
It was received with a mixture of feelings - some said it was a political holiday to rope in our Muslim brothers; some said it was a wasted day when we should have been working to fatten our wallets.
For me, I had received the news with a mixture of anger and relief. Anger because I had planned that Saturday, 10th September for hosting the 13th edition of the Ndakaini Half Marathon which, according to me, had already been "ruined" by the Jubilee government's decision to have their celebration party on the very same day. As a result, we were denied the publicity space that we typically get from our media partners to tell our annual Ndakaini "Water-to-Nairobi" story. Even our dependable Citizen TV station did not broadcast live the event on a day that was spectacularly beautiful because they had been captured by Jubilee at Kasarani. We had braced ourselves for a poorly attended event and we even expected our Chief Guest CS Eugene Wamalwa not to show up.
You can therefore imagine our relief when I was called at 7.30 am and told that the CS was two kilometres away from Ndakaini. I rushed to meet him and, lo and behold, the place was already buzzing with hundreds of people who had already started arriving for the race. It turned out to be a day like no other as thousands of people came from all over for another highly successful event. Even our main sponsors - Dr. SK Macharia of Citizen and Dr. JB Wanjui of UAP - decided to come in person and participate in the 5km fun race. A day to remember and celebrate...
This brings me back to the public holiday given by the government. Not being of the Islamic faith, I decided to check what "Eid-ul-Adha" was all about. From my dependable Google, I was informed that it was a day to celebrate an event that is deeply entrenched in the Judeo-Islamic-Christian faith. It celebrates a story all of us know as we were told as children about how an immigrant called Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac at the altar to show how much he appreciated God's gift to him for that same son. The rest of the story must be familiar to any curious reader - how a ram suddenly appeared as he was ready to slay Isaac and how grateful Abraham was.
Back to Eid-ul-Adha
For those not familiar with the whole bizarre tale of Abraham, it turns out that his wife Sarah was unable to bear children and, being a wise woman, she had offered her maid Hagar to her husband to be a surrogate mother. Which opportunity Abraham gratefully took as he was already 86 years old and soon thereafter got a baby boy who he named Ishmael meaning "God has heard about your affliction". He could now relax knowing he had an heir to his vast wealth.
But Sarah was not happy and so she asked God why He had shamed her so as she was being taunted by the mother of Ishmael. So God sent an angel to her to tell her not to give up hope as she, too, was going to get a baby boy just like Hagar. She could not believe it. So you can imagine her surprise when she discovered that she was pregnant!
The story had an unhappy ending as Sarah ordered Abraham to send away her maid and her son away as soon as she got her own son. Then, the real test came when God decided to test his faith by asking him to sacrifice that same son after he had sent away his other son, Ishmael.
Eid-ul-Adha
This brings us to the story of Eid-ul-Adha. Muslims celebrate the story of how Abraham did not kill his son Isaac after God gave him a ram. So, every year, they remember the event by slaughtering a sheep, goat or camel but with a difference. The animal is supposed to be divided into three equal parts. The first third is given to the wife to share with her children because she is their mother. The second third is to be given to neighbours, friends and relatives living nearby and the final third is to be given to the poor and sick people living in the general neighbourhood. What a noble way of thanking God for saving a son who was surely going to die!
Jews, on the other hand, chose not to recognise that Abrahamic gift explicitly (I may be wrong) but, belatedly created another story about a Messiah which is familiar to all Christians. But that is not the point. The Muslims celebrate Isaac in a very human, practical and visible way but Christian religious leaders choose not to let their followers know about that bit as it would dilute the Christmas spirit which incidentally has been completely commercialised by western converts to that faith.
Quo Vadis?
So as you wonder whether 12th September was a genuine holiday, you may wish to reflect on two things. One, what have you as an individual, done to celebrate all that your creator has done for you? And two, what have you done to create a better world for your neighbourhood, country and the world at large?
May the true spirit of Eid-ul-Adha be with you now that you know its meaning.
As I reflect on this particular religious festival, I cannot but wonder about all the fuss between our good friends, Jews and Muslims and by extension, the Europeans who got us into the mess via Christianity. The two are clearly from a common ancestor named Abraham. The only difference is that, as we say in my Gikuyu language, Isaac the father of Jews, was from the senior wife Sarai or the “She-Elephant” if you are familiar with Swazi culture. In mine, she was known as “Ngatha”.
Unfortunately, for the Muslims, they are from a secondary wife, Hagar the mother of Ishmael. Does this make Hagar's son an inferior progeny? In my culture, certainly yes, because he had not married her properly - dowry and all the attendant rituals that sealed a true marriage whatever you consider it to be.
Worst of all, why must they keep on dragging the rest of us poor humanity into their petty feuds after more than 5,000 years?
I just wonder.