Season of Giving

The season of giving has officially begun here at school, but not specifically in a Western or Christian context. Rather, the school is presenting this season of giving in terms of the community service component of its mission as well as the Islamic festival, Eid al Adha.The school is celebrating the season in a 12-day event called "12 Days of Giving". The event has been planned so that each day presents a unique opportunity to give back to the community within and without the school. On the first day, for example, the school asked the student body to donate a JD or two in order to raise money for a non-academy student overseas. On other days, the school asked students to give back to community by participating in other service activities such as making paper cranes for a sick teacher, baking cookies for a nearby school, and donating clothes to a shelter. The 12 Days of Giving, however, has also had a long term goal of raising money in order to buy three holiday sheep for local families. These sheep would be holiday sheep because the Islamic holiday, Eid al Adha, is set to begin early next week. Eid al Adha is the second holy feast in the Islamic calendar. It begins on the tenth day of Dur-Hajj, the last month of the Islamic calandar and the month when Muslims around the world make the Hajj to Mecca. To be precise, though, Eid al Adha marks the end of the Hajj.Whether or not Muslims only make the Hajj during this month I don't know but I'm pretty sure they make the Hajj all year round. Anyway, this feasts commemorates Abraham's resolution to sacrifice his son, Ishmael (more favored than Isaac and from whom the Arabs are decended) to God and God's decision to substitute a sheep for Ishmael at the last minute. Muslims celebrate Eid al Adha by purchasing a sheep, slaughtering it, and then cooking/offering it to the poor. Muslims also celebrate this holiday by traveling to be with family and by visiting the graves of relatives. Anyway, the school is asking the community to give money to the sheep fund so that we can buy three sheep for local families. That's the holiday/giving season at king's and that's Eid al Adha. The next event on the Islamic Calendar is the Islamic New Year which is currently expected to fall on December 29th. After the new year, we will be in the year 1430. The Islamic calandar started when the prophet left Mecca for Medina.