“Eid Mubarak” may seem a bit different in northwestern Western Australia, where members of the community gather in unconventional ways to mark one of the most important data on the Islamic calendar.
In Karratha and Carnarvon have worshipers, including some who are attracted in uniforms with a lot of visibility, no permanent place of prayer for eid al-Adha.
It is far removed from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a majority-Muslim external territory, where the Athan or the Islamic call for prayer mixtures with the sound of drums and violins to ring in the holy festival.
Calls for a permanent place of prayer
On Saturday, late eid celebrations were held at a hired council location in Karratha, about 1500 kilometers north of Perth.
Karratha Muslim Community Association President Imraan Kolia said that having a permanent place of prayer had been a real “bottleneck” for the community.
“We are looking for a dedicated space that we could call our house,” he said.
Work boots are removed and hi-fish shines while the men kneel for prayer. ((ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates))
Mr. Kolia described the Muslim community in Karratha as small but attaches, with people from all layers of life and corners of the world.
But he said that the transience of the city could make it difficult to meet all nationalities and cultures.
“It is very diverse, very multicultural, also very traditional. We are only a small community,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from, we are all bound and united by the same, what our religion and special days like these are.“
About 150 people came together for eID festivities, involving prayers, gifts and sharing treatments, visiting families, jumping castles and face painting in the Tambrey Football Oval.
The Karratha -Muslim community hopes to establish a permanent mosque. ((ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates))
Mr. Kolia described the dissonance of celebrating and parties as a community while people in Gaza remained threatened and could not enjoy the same freedoms.
“It’s a time for us when we come together as a Muslim community to remember Muslims around the world, and especially those Muslims in Palestine and in Gaza,” he said.
A small but supporting community
The Muslim community Carnarvon consists of 50 people.
Most have traveled from Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan to work in the farm city.
Just like Karratha, there is no fixed space for worship.
The Civic Center has been rented in the past to organize eID prayers.
But this holiday was not held a common prayer.
It is a Sunnah for Muslims, which means that it is strongly recommended and must be practiced, but is not strictly mandatory.
Shzzaer Iezayed Abdullah bin Mahalan, who passes long, moved from Malaysia to Carnarvon eight years ago.
He spent his eID in the Kebab store.
For a long time, a kebab store with a halal menu – runs a rarity in the northwest. ((ABC Pilbara: Lina Elsaadi))
“I just spoke with my family in Malaysia … I really miss them when eid comes. But all I can do is call them video,” he said.
For a long time, most people were too busy to organize prayer.
“They work in the plantation, some in the gas station, everywhere they work. So we don’t have time,” he said.
But the festivities did not entirely struck that.
“Sunday … we can make eID party for us. We just discuss … such as who cooks, who does the preparation?”
With the help of a WhatsApp group, the community has planned and supported each other.
“Especially when someone gets sick in the hospital, we just give them donation … This is our Muslim and Malaysian community,”
Said long.
Eid on Home Island
More than 2,300 km northwest of Carnarvon, the call for prayer could be heard along tropical beaches and blue lagoons when Eid al-Adha began in the most remote Muslim community of Australia.
Many residents of the territory of the Indian Ocean of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands observe the festival, although their traditions have developed separately from the mainland.
Haji Adam arrives in the Home Island -Mosque for Friday prayers. ((ABC News: Alice Angeloni))
Haji Adam Anthony, the senior imam of the islands, said that the special variety of Islam that is practiced by the Cocos Malays, merged different cultures from all over the world.
“That’s because a long time ago, our ancestors bring this culture and tradition,”
he said.
“The Clunies-Ross brought the peoples from different places to Cocos.”
Tamarinde drums (left) is supposed to have arrived from Indonesia, and today the function in all kinds of parties. ((Delivered: State Library of WA))
The islands were discovered by the captain William Keeling of the East India Company in the early 1600s.
But it was only in the 19th century that trader John Clunies-Ross started populating with contract workers from British Malaya, China, India and other places.
Haji Adam said that Islam was rooted strongly among these settlers, who met at Home Island when the Clunies-Ross-Leengoed passed into Australian control.
Cultural markers from home country so far and diverse as Indonesia to Scotland are still found in contemporary ceremonies.
Watchers marked eID with traditional dances, playing tamarind drum and performances on the Cocos Biola, a violin that the Clunies-Ross family is often credited for bringing it to the territory.
Most 600 inhabitants of the islands practice Islam. ((ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne))
Haji Adam explained the harmony between different traditions and Islam made the Cocos (throat) islands unique.
“[Without] The use of drum or violins and so on … we lost our culture and tradition, “he said.
“The older people still like this.”
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