Muslims in Allentown, Pennsylvania gathered on Sunday morning at the Coca Cola Park to celebrate for a massive Muslim prayer for the celebration of Eid Ul Adha, the festival of sacrifice, according to local newspaper Morning Call.
Eid ul Adha is one of the major holidays in Islam and is celebrated by nearly two billion Muslims worldwide.
Coca Cola Stadium where the Muslim event took place, is home to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs baseball team. Inside and outside of the stadium, emblems, murals, and statues of pigs are used as decorations, and a pig and a piece of bacon are the official mascot for the team.
Here are some photos of the stadium, for reference:
In Islam, Muslims are forbidden from eating pork, and Muslims view pigs as the world’s dirtiest animals, per the Quran.
“Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah,” according to Quran 5:3.
There is a growing trend in the United States of Muslims filling stadiums to celebrate Eid. Last year, Breitbart reported on such an event in Minnesota.
“Thousands of Muslims streamed to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Tuesday, to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid,” Breitbart said. “According to reporters on the scene, chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ could be heard from the loudspeakers.”
“The event, advertised as a ‘Super Eid,’ drew some 30,000 Muslims to the stadium where the Minnesota Vikings play, the Star-Tribune reported,” according to the report.
Included in the Breitbart story was Laura Loomer’s reporting on the event.
“People can be seen in this video holding signs that say ‘Love thy neighbor’ as ‘Allahu Akbar’ is broadcasted on the loudspeaker repetitively in the background,” she said on Twitter at the time.
She has since been banned from the platform, and is suing Twitter along with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
During Eid, Muslims sacrifice animals, and social media is filled with photos of animals being slaughtered. Here is a photo of an Eid animal sacrifice in Gaza:
The United Arab Emirates, a majority Muslim nation, has announced fines for citizens who slaughter animals in the street during Eid.
